Florida Football: Gators third down woes need answers from Patrick Toney

We wrote yesterday about how Florida football managed to turn an otherwise inept LSU offense into the greatest show on turf. Before Saturday, LSU had yet to top 21 points against a Power Five opponent heading into the fourth quarter.

LSU had 42 points after three quarters.

It was not from a lack of chances to get off the field, Florida simply fell apart on third down. And as we have written about before, it isn’t solely a byproduct of the Gators not having talent. Billy Napier and Patrick are in their first year in Gainesville and, indeed, fixing the mess that was left behind by Dan Mullen and Todd Grantham will take time.

But even with the mess left behind, it isn’t unfair to ask Toney why the mess isn’t getting better.

Florida Football: Clean up on aisle three

Ten times against LSU, the Florida Gators’ defense either gave up a third down conversion or left LSU with a 4th-and-one that was then converted. The average distance of LSU’s third down conversions was 7.3 yards and the median distance was 8 yards.

Below is the cliff notes version of each conversion. See if you can spot a common theme.

3rd and 8 (12:52 in 1st, LSU 27-yard line)

• Jaydon Hill is 8 yards off the line of scrimmage, and Jason Marshall is up close
• Six seconds from snap to throw

3rd and 5 (11:03 in 1st, Florida 29-yard line)

• Amari Burney and Ventrell Miller in A gap
• Entire secondary 7 yards off the ball
• Toss right, Rashad Torrence misses chance at open field tackle

3rd and 15 (9:23 in 1st, Florida 27-yard line)

• LSU goes TE look
• Florida plays close to the line
• Gators stunt and Tyreak Sapp drops back as a spy
• Only three rush, five seconds from snap to throw
• Boutte catches a pass after coming all the way across the field

3rd and 2 (1:11 in 1st, LSU 35-yard line)

• Hill 8 yards off
• Two TEs
• Boutte in motion, no one follows
• TE motions left after the snap, RPO, Florida is simply outnumbered for an easy shovel pass

3rd and 8 (12:51 in 2nd, Florida 17-yard line)

• LSU motions, Torrance comes down and this might be Cover-One
• Miller and Burney blitz, Boone drops back into the throwing lane for single receiver
• Hill immediately loses slant to the inside

3rd and 10 (7:35 in 2nd, LSU 25-yard line)

• Pre-snap motion be TE from right to left
• No one for Florida moves, though they all signal to each other
• Not hard to identify, ends up being Cover-Two
• TE matched up on Miller wins an easy seam route with no one else to cover the middle

3rd and 8 (2:33 in 2nd, LSU 46-yard line)

• Marshall up tight, Hill 8 yards off
• Cox jumps offside, giving a free play
• Looks like Cover-Three, and even with an 8-yard cushion Hill gets beat over the top for the TD

3rd and 6 (5:15 in 3rd, Florida 46-yard line)

• Marshall and Hill play press this time
• Throw is out within two seconds
• Hill does nothing to disrupt the route, the receiver is into Hill’s body three yards in with momentum, and by the time the comeback route is thrown Hill is beaten back to the ball by three yards

3rd and 3 (2:29 in 3rd, Florida 16-yard-line)

• LSU goes heavy set
• Option-read
• Boone dives in on RB, leaving Daniels with the ball
• Miguel Mitchell actually keeps edge but is undersized against LSU TE, Kamari Wilson has a chance at tackle but overruns Daniels

3rd and 8 (4:07 in 4th, Florida 34-yard line)

• Marshall is 8-yards off the ball
• Princely Umanmielen drops into the window to take away Boutte (Gators actually have four guys around Boutte)
• Because of cushion, LSU is able to complete a simple slant route to WR

Florida Football: Put the Disney story on hold

After being named SEC defensive player of the week last week following two interceptions against Missouri, Jaydon Hill was brought back to Earth against LSU. Hill was eight yards off the line of scrimmage on almost every third-down play. On four of LSU’s conversions, Hill was the man that the Tigers picked on.

The problem for Florida football is that on the deep shot LSU scored on in the second quarter, Hill had already given a massive cushion and he still got beat over the top. The couple of times Hill tried to come down and play tighter coverage didn’t do too well either.

Of LSU’s ten conversations, the following can be blamed:

• Four on Hill (whether alignment or just getting beat)
• Three on the defensive line (two from zero pressure and one from Boone losing edge)
• Three from Toney playing soft, static zone that LSU takes advantage of

So, it begs the question for Toney, why was Hill left out there when he was clearly struggling?

This isn’t to pile on to Hill. He’s coming back from an ACL injury and LSU is only his third game back on the field. Against Eastern Washington, Hill didn’t look good at all. He did have the two interceptions against Missouri, but it should be noted that both came after getting help from Miller to disrupt the route of the receiver.

Avery Helm and Jalen Kimber have had some struggles as well, but at some point, Toney has to recognize in-game that you have to try something else. Jason Marshall, at least on third downs, had a solid performance and the only time he was the culprit was when Toney had him playing eight yards off the ball.

Florida football lost because it became predictable on defense. If Florida can manage to stop LSU just once or twice, Florida wins that game.

But if Toney’s go-to is going to be a basic static zone with no wrinkles to it, then Toney isn’t going to last longer than his predecessor did.