Florida football: I really want to defend Todd Grantham, but it’s difficult

I know that every college football team’s fan base can be fickle. And, Florida football is no different. So, I did some reflecting after Florida’s loss to Georgia Saturday.

We’ve all heard it before, and after the 24-17 loss Florida football sustained Saturday against Georgia, it’s not going away anytime soon.

Third and Grantham.

Now Florida football fans fully understand what other teams under Grantham mean by that.

While Florida’s offense provided a bit of bright spot — at least with the pass because that run game was awful — the defense was mired in the muck of a soft zone forcing our defensive backs into an untenable against Georgia’s receivers.

But, there was one figure that stood out more than anything from Saturday’s loss.

12-for-18.

That’s what Georgia was on third-down conversions.

3rd and 15.

3rd and 11.

3rd and 6 (twice).

3rd and 8.

3rd and 7.

That was just half of their conversions. And, it wasn’t the first time Georgia pulled off going 12-for-18 on third down. They did it in 2014 against Louisville. Guess who the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator was — that’s right — Todd Grantham.

And I don’t care how gutsy or good anything thinks Jake Fromm is, but it was that coverage that made him look good Saturday, not his arm, his accuracy or anything else.

We gave him so much to work with that any of the freshmen quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference would have looked good Saturday.

I mean, really? You aren’t bumping receivers at the line of scrimmage to throw off timing?

You are giving those same receivers 3, 4, and even 5 yards’ buffer between them and the secondary.

It’s begging Fromm to make plays — and he did.

Not to mention the fact that our two best defensive linemen were back — Jonathan Greenard and Jabari Zuniga — but we had no sacks and forced no turnovers against Georgia.

To me, this all falls on the shoulders of Grantham.

I understand that Grantham is supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread when it comes to defensive minds, but it was really lacking Saturday.

I just don’t get it. Why would you not adjust after halftime? Why would you keep playing the same zone over and over, knowing it was getting beat?

For full disclosure, I am a Grantham fan. I think, if he has the pieces together, he can have an immovable force for a defense.

And, the biggest problem I have here, is that we’ve seen inklings of that happening — this season.

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Ten sacks against Miami. 154 yards rushing against South Carolina — you know, the same Gamecock team that upset Georgia a week before.

Four sacks against Tennessee and another four the next week against Towson.

I mean, the evidence is there that Florida football has the potential to have one of the best defenses in the nation. And, for a few weeks, we actually did.

The fact remains that, in a big game like the Cocktail Party, our defense just didn’t adjust.

I can let the loss at LSU slide a little bit because we were missing a lot of pieces to the defense, but against Georgia, they were all there.

We played the same, tired soft zone coverage all because we didn’t want to get beat with a long pass.

Fun fact: Fromm and Georgia haven’t scored on a touchdown play that was more than 20 yards in the air.

Until Saturday.

In the fourth quarter, Fromm hit Lawrence Cager on a 52-yard touchdown pass to put Georgia up 24-10. It was the first time the Bulldogs scored a touchdown with a pass more than 20 yards this season.

All with the soft zone coverage that Georgia receivers exploited all game long.

Not for nothing, but I’m not a fan of throwing the baby out with the bathwater (as it were) and I am hoping that one game does not make the rest of the season.

We have too many good pieces in play to suggest we need to make a change. But, I, like Florida football fans, won’t be as tolerant if we keep seeing more soft zone or bad defensive reads against teams we have every capability of beating.

Because Georgia was one of those teams. And, it should be the last one this season.

No. 10 Florida will host Vanderbilt at noon Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.