Offense: Florida Gators 48 – Kentucky Wildcats 10
Part one of a four-part series that has every intention to come in four parts, but usually comes in three parts, and occasionally comes in one-part.
405 yards rushing. That number means a couple of things. First of all – and not to take away from the collectively effort of the Florida running backs – that’s one less than the NCAA FBS record that LaDainian Tomlinson set in 1999 when he was at TCU. But we’re not here to talk about one running back; we’re here to talk about the Gators’ stable of running backs and there night for the ages. So on to the second thing that number means…
The last time Florida went over 400 yards rushing as a team most of the current members of the squad weren’t even born yet. Against New Mexico in 1989, a running back by the name of Emmitt Smith had a career day. Smith would set a Florida record that still stands with 316 yards on the day. The Gators would go over 400 yards on the ground in that game as well. It would be nearly 22 years before they would do it again.
How did it all happen? Kentucky’s defense never stood much of a chance in Florida’s 48-10 victory. The Gators ran the ball 46 times for 405 yards, a clip of 8.8 per carry. Amazingly, the Wildcats actually had the higher time of possession. Chris Rainey excelled again, but he wasn’t the brightest star Saturday night. That would be Jeff Demps. Demps finished with 157 yards on only 10 carries and two touchdowns, including an 84-yarder which would be a career-long for no. 28 (and no. 2 when he sported that digit on his jersey). On the play, Demps was aided by good blocking, but his speed would prove to be the difference. He saw daylight in the Kentucky secondary and literally ran right by everyone who even had a remote chance of tackling him. Rainey may be the shiftier of the two, but there’s no doubt who has better straight-line speed. Rainey would also go over 100 yards – he’s third time in the last three games – and dazzle fans on a 27 yard cross-field gain in which he covered somewhere around 100 yards. Even Mike Gillislee got into the action. After fumbling the ball after a collision with a referee, Gillislee exploded for a 60-yard score. He wouldn’t get to 100, but we’ll all take 84 yards on six carries. There was even a Trey Burton in the end zone sighting as the slash-back upped his career touchdown total against Kentucky to seven.
While the running game exploded, the passing game was stagnant. Not in an awful way, but not really used too much. John Brantley threw the ball eight times in the first quarter, but only six times the rest of the way. Part of that was due to the success of the run game and part was due to the scoreboard. It would have been nice to see Brantley sling the ball around more, but it just wasn’t needed. Add that to a slight injury and the Gators didn’t need him to pass much past the first quarter. Brantley appears to be fine though, so there’s nothing to worry about going forward.
What we did see was more involvement of the wide receivers and tight ends. The Gators only completed eight passes on the night – all by Brantley – but six went to WRs and TEs. By my count, 10 of the 18 attempts went to WRs and TEs as well. Those aren’t huge numbers, but not bad in the percentage department. This may be yet another example of Charlie Weis not showing his hand completely, but honestly why would he need to? The Gators took a 21-3 lead out of the first quarter and never needed to do much else than hand off the ball. Alabama’s defense will be a different animal, but we’ll get to that later. For now, it continues to look like Florida will do what it needs to do to win and little more, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. More passes to WRs and TEs and the emergence of Gerald Christian. With Jordan Reed banged up and A.C. Leonard still in returning from injury mode, Christian is taking hold of the tight end position and not looking back. A great route and catch by him and a near perfect throw from Brantley resulted in a 45-yard touchdown that lifted fans off their seats. Now if we can just see more similar plays to wide receivers, we’re good to go.
It’s hard to complain about the offensive line in a game in which the running game generated over 400 yards and nearly nine yards per carry, so I won’t go that route, but I will continue to harp on consistency. The line is struggling in that area. It’s not an issue that continues to come up. On Demps long run, everything worked as it was drawn up. On others, there were missed blocks that resulted in Kentucky getting into the backfield too quickly. The line is coming together, but needs to be a cohesive unit on every play. There will be hiccups in games, but they can’t happen as often. Against the big boys of the SEC, the line will need to open those holes for the running backs consistently and form a solid pocket around Brantley. Not something to worry too much about, but something that will surely be addressed during practice.
520 total yards and 41 points (seven came from the defense) is what you like to see. With the run game proving to be one of the better in the nation and the passing game coming along, the Gators will continue to put up points. The real tests come over the next two games. They’ll be tough matchups, but we all feel better about them than we did a month ago.
Next up: the defense.