Florida Gators 55 – Vanderbilt Commodores 14
I’m not an overwhelming fan of the two-quarterback system. I believe, for the most part, teams that pull it off get lucky. Supporters of it will be quick to point to Florida’s 2006 National Championship season as the perfect execution of a two-QB system, but they need to look again. That was far from two quarterbacks. It was a clear starter who took a high percentage of snaps and a bruising true freshman who came in mostly during short-yardage situations. A true two-quarterback system is similar to what we saw when the Gators faced Georgia. LSU is another example of a team using it almost exclusively at the moment. Some teams in the past have pulled it off and had success, but overall, I’m still not a fan. I like one guy getting the job done. One guy getting into a rhythm and being the one you can count on to get the win. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.
When one guy can’t do the job by himself, you may have to turn to another guy. When the second guy can’t do it either, you may need both to combine forces to become mega-QB. Even then, you may not still get the desirable results you were looking for on the field. If that’s the case, you have to go all Voltron on it and put together a team of quarterbacks who combined create one hell of a dangerous weapon. If the result is a 41-point win in which your team scores 55 points and the quarterback combo account for 370 total yards and 4 touchdowns, then you may just have to stick with it for the rest of the season.
Florida’s QB-by-committee approach now includes Jordan Reed. The one-time quarterback who was converted to tight end only to be converted right back to quarterback. Reed, along with I-guess-you-call-him-the-starter John Brantley and freshman phenom (of sorts) Trey Burton, combined to complete 22 of 37 passes for 277 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. They also ran the ball 22 times for 114 yards (good enough for a 5.2 average) and another score. What you ended up with was a team piling up 480 total yards of offense, scoring its most points of the season, and winning by its biggest margin. I may not like it, but I’ll deal with it for the four (or hopefully five) games left on the schedule. If it continues.
In Brantley, you still have a player who lacks a great deal of confidence in what he can do on the field. In the two wins since the three-game losing streak, Brantley has turned himself into a solid, but far from spectacular player. He has the talent to be a star passer, but doesn’t seem to know it or believe in himself. Even in a big win over Vanderbilt in which he threw for two touchdowns and wasn’t intercepted, Brantley was still shaky at times. Some of the credit (or more appropriately some of the blame) can be given to the offensive line. At this point in the season, Brantley has been put on the ground within a second of taking the snap so many times that it must be hard for him to have any confidence in his game at all. It’s probably a bit of a surprise for him when he’s given the time to plant his feet, make a read, and then deliver an accurate throw. Unfortunately, it has gotten to the point that the multiple-QB system may be directly attributed to the fact that Brantley can’t win games on his own. The entire situation makes many believe 2011 will be very similar to 2010. Thankfully this isn’t the NFL and you don’t have any of the three as your starting fantasy quarterback.
In Burton, you get a quick fan favorite who has running ability and has shown he can even catch the ball, but also has a questionable arm. You might be wondering how I can say he has a questionable arm if we have only seen him throw a few times all season. Well, the fact that Reed was allowed to fire off 19 passes to Burton’s zero against Vandy all but proves that. Burton may become a serviceable passer one day, but he obviously has a long way to go if he’s still not given much of an opportunity, especially in a game that was decided early in the second quarter. This, as I’ve mentioned before, could haunt the offense in future games. When Burton is taking snaps, the defense knows what’s coming. That doesn’t mean they’ll always stop him, but the weapon might not be as powerful as it once was.
In Reed, you get a player rumored to be looking around due to a lack of involvement in the offense who turned into a hero in a matter of only one play. His touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson in the second quarter was about as beautiful of a throw as you’ll see this season. It brought back instant memories to Reed making similar throws in the Orange and Blue game and kind of made you wonder why he hadn’t been given more of a chance until now. While Brantley beat him two-to-one in terms of touchdown passes on the day, Reed’s one was a direct result of his throw while Brantley’s two were both receivers making the plays. Reed may not turn out to be a great QB (none of the three may in the end), but he proved in one afternoon that he deserves just as much of a chance as #12 and #8 do.
The game was over when Reed hit Thompson for that touchdown at the start of the second quarter. The Gators would go on to score four more times in that quarter alone and then get nearly everyone involved on both offense and defense in the second half. Don’t believe me? Here are the players who caught passes against the Commodores: Chris Rainey, Frankie Hammond, Thompson, Carl Moore, Solomon Patton, Justin Williams, Josh Postell (for those wondering, he was the Florida receiver with no name on the back of his jersey), Andre Debose, Stephen Alli, and Dee Finley. Yes, you read that last name right. That’s 10 different receivers, six of which had multiple catches. Blowouts create playing opportunities. Sometimes it’s not the best thing in the world: take away one nice 19-yard run and Emmanuel Moody carried the ball 12 other times for only 27 yards (2.3 yards per carry, do that four times in a row and you still don’t manage a first down). Sometimes it gives you a glimpse into what the coming seasons might bring: Patton, Postell, and Alli could have bright futures.
If it’s game ball time then it has to go to Rainey. The running back/wide receiver had modest offensive numbers – seven touches for 83 yards – but three plays made him the game’s most valuable player. Rainey bailed out Brantley to catch a 40-yard touchdown pass that, be honest here, was just not a good throw. Rainey had beaten the defender and should have been able to make the easy catch, but Brantley under threw him and despite being interfered with, Rainey was still able to come back for the ball. The once-disgraced Gator also blocked two punts as Florida seemed to bring back the special teams intensity it was known for in previous years. This can be directly attributed to Urban Meyer retaking the reigns of the unit. Rainey’s first block set up a Mike Gillislee touchdown and his second was returned 42 yards by Patton for a score. Rainey has been an instrumental part of the offense since his return from suspension and has now made his presence felt on special teams. With Jeff Demps spending so much time on the sidelines, Rainey will need to continue his high-level of play if the Gators hope to continue their win streak.
Honorable mentions go to two true freshmen defenders who have improved over the course of the season. Florida signed three of the Rivals100 top 10 in 2010. All three were defensive linemen. With one having issues concerning playing time, the other two are starting to shine. The nation’s top prospect – Ronald Powell – has been moved (temporarily or not) from defensive end to linebacker and is quickly showing why he was the country’s most sought after athlete. While Powell is still learning the position and finds himself out of position from time to time, he has the speed and instincts to make up for it. Powell delivered more than a couple punishing hits against Vanderbilt as the linebackers came back to life. In the middle of the line, defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd is on his way to becoming the Gators’ most valuable defensive lineman. Floyd has obvious power and surprising agility for someone his size. He finds himself in the backfield on many plays and has the ability to not get faked out by running backs. With a line that constantly rotates throughout games, Floyd is becoming the one that may be hardest to keep off the field.
It was a game that saw Florida not only cover the spread, but blow it out of the water. This was a win the Gators needed and propels them into a huge matchup in The Swamp against South Carolina with a trip to Atlanta on the line. There have been years in which Florida has trounced Vandy and others in which the Gators have struggled to beat the Commodores. This was an easy one that saw positives come from every orange and blue unit. If three quarterbacks can come together to equal one efficient game manager and the defense can continue to deliver performances like that one, the season is far from lost.
Florida now finds itself 60 minutes from the SEC Championship Game. In a season that has seen the defending National Champions lose twice, LSU continue to underachieve yet win, and a Cameron Newton-led team march to the top of the standings, anything can and will happen. The Gators were close to being written off, but now face 60 minutes against a team that has looked very beatable since their upset of top-ranked Alabama. They did what they needed to do against Vanderbilt and restored some faith the fanbase had lost. This may not be the perfect team, but it’s a team that’s put itself in a position to play for the title in one of the toughest conferences in the sport. A few weeks ago, fans would have been crazy to believe a BCS bowl was in Florida’s future. Now it doesn’t seem all that impossible…even if there might be a very good Auburn team waiting to derail that improbable dream.