Gainesville QB Club
Will Miles speaking at the Gainesville QB Club.
First, a special thanks to the Gainesville Quarterback Club for inviting me to speak in Gainesville this past Tuesday.
It was great to meet over 250 die-hard Gator fans and to test-drive some of these stats that I’ve presented in this article in front of that audience. It’s a really cool organization and the oldest Gator Booster Club in the world. If you’re in the area, you should think about joining.
Four years ago when I started writing for SEC Country, I couldn’t have imagined that I would have shared a stage with Pat Dooley or had an opportunity to diagram Feleipe Franks exploiting a single-high safety coverage 20 feet from Ahmad Black.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t thank everyone who has read my work, subscribed to Read and Reaction or listened to Gators Breakdown over the past four seasons. I wouldn’t have been on that stage without your support and I am truly thankful.
On to the analysis.
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Following the Gators game against Miami, the narrative was that Feleipe Franks didn’t play well.
You had ESPN analyst Greg McElroy saying that he has regressed from last season. You had Kirk Herbstreit decrying his off-field behavior (?) on College Gameday. You had fans on Twitter and Facebook arguing about how long of a leash head coach Dan Mullen should have for Franks.
The noise got so loud that Franks’ mother – Ginger Franks – decided to write something on Twitter about how her son was being treated.
Now, you may say that this is what comes with being the Florida QB. After all, when you come to Gainesville and perform, you get lionized like Tim Tebow, Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier. However, when you don’t perform up to expectations, the criticism can be quick, harsh and personal.
That’s what Franks signed up for, right? Perhaps, yes.
But fans and experts alike should probably be sure that Franks played poorly before leveling too much criticism his way.
How to measure QB play
Heading into the 2017 season, Florida offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was asked what he needed to do to improve the Florida offense. Nussmeier said the following:
“The one area that we have to address is the red area. The red zone. We haven’t been good in both seasons. Need to improve on that. We spent a lot of time working on that and the players are cognizant of it and we’ll continue to improve that.” – Doug Nussmeier, August 2017
This is the kind of answer that anyone who has listened to a coach speak about his team has probably heard. Being good in the red zone and converting on third downs are big areas of emphasis that coaches often point to when discussing where to improve.
The problem is, this thinking is flawed.
Plots of Red Zone Conversion % Rank and Third Down Conversion % Rank versus Points per Game for the 2018 season. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
If you look at the above charts, you can see that there is very little correlation (if at all) between either red zone conversion percentage or third down conversions per game to scoring points. This suggests that converting in the red zone or converting lots of third downs – while useful – are not drivers of effective offenses.
If, however, we look at a couple of other stats, we can find a fairly strong correlation.
Plots of Red Zone Attempts per Game Rank and Yards per Play Rank versus Points per Game for the 2018 season. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
These charts suggest that there is a strong correlation between the number of red zone attempts per game and yards per play gained and scoring points.
I don’t want to undersell this point. The data says that converting third downs and converting in the red zone matters much less than how often you get there. And the way you get there more often is by generating explosive plays (because that increases your yards per play average).
This is the foundation of the Yards above Replacement (YAR) stat that I’ve developed over the past year to try and measure QB performance.
As a refresher, YAR takes a QBs yards per pass attempt and yards per rush attempt and compares those to the average value of both in FBS. That allows the calculation of whether a QB is better or worse than his peers.
As an example of how to view different values of YAR, I want to give a few examples from last season.
- YAR = 0, average QB (Kellen Mond, 0.08)
- YAR = -1, terrible (Ty Storey, -1.04)
- YAR = 1, very good (Jake Fromm, 0.95)
- YAR = 2+, Heisman candidate (Tua Tagovailoa, 3.55)
Thus, we can measure how well a QB plays on a game-by-game basis and hopefully understand whether he is improving and where he can improve further.
Explosive plays and Florida’s offense
I get why fans expressed frustration at the way the Florida offense looked against Miami. But we have to look at it through the framework of what makes an offense effective.
Yards per play gained rank, red zone attempts per game rank and defensive yards per play allowed rank for Florida from 2015-2018. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
The above table shows yards per play gained for Florida from 2015-2018. What we see is that the offense did not crack the top-100 in any of the McElwain/Nussmeier regime. It’s not a coincidence that the offense improved under Mullen in 2018 given that the yards per play rank improved to 32nd in 2018.
This increase came – in large part – because of an increase in explosive plays.
Explosive plays for Florida’s offense in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
Florida created 26 more explosive plays (20+ yards) in 2018 than in 2017. Not only that, but the Gators executed 29 explosive plays in the last four games of the season (6 vs. South Carolina, 8 vs. Idaho, 6 vs. FSU and 9 vs. Michigan).
This is where the Florida offense struggled against the Hurricanes. The Gators only had two explosive plays the entire game, both in the passing game.
But look at that chart up above again. The Gators averaged 2.0 explosive plays through the air and 2.8 explosive plays on the ground during the 2018 season. Franks got them the two explosive plays through the air. What was missing were the big plays on the ground.
The running game requires that everyone do his job. And the Dan Mullen running game requires that the tight ends do a good job blocking for the running backs. Unfortunately, that was an area where the tight ends struggled against Miami.
On this play, tight ends Lucas Krull (#7) and Kyle Pitts (#84) block the same guy (Romeo Finley, #30). That leaves Miami safety Gurvan Hall (#26) free to force Kadarius Toney (#1) back inside to others who are able to make the tackle.
On this play, Pitts (#84) gets blown back into the backfield by Miami defensive lineman Pat Bethel (#93). Bethel makes the tackle when Florida running back Lamical Perine (#2) tries to cut back, right into Bethel.
On this play, Krull (#7) just runs by Miami linebacker Gilbert Frierson (#3). Frierson then runs directly to make the tackle on Florida running back Dameon Pierce (#27). It all happens so fast that Pierce really doesn’t have a chance to avoid the tackle.
This play – in particular – caught my eye because had Frierson been blocked, this was going to be a big gain.
The running woes of Florida’s offense weren’t all due to poor blocking from the tight ends. There were times that Franks should have audibled to a QB run and didn’t. There were times Toney had a hole to gain 2-3 yards but instead danced around and lost a few. There were times that offensive linemen got stuck on combo blocks, allowing linebackers to make tackles at the line of scrimmage.
But regardless of the reason, the fact remains that the running game was why Florida’s offense struggled to be consistent, much more than the passing game.
Grading Franks’ performance
That’s not to say that Feleipe Franks was perfect. He was not.
But the vitriol that has come his way has been surprising to me. For sure, it was frustrating to see the Gators offense stall, and as the trigger man for that offense, Franks is going to face scrutiny. But I don’t see a lot of evidence of the hot take that “he’s regressed to who he was last year.”
In fact, I see the opposite.
This was reflected both in Franks’ QB passer rating and his YAR. His passer rating for the game was 151.6. For frame of reference, that would have ranked 21st in the country for the 2018 season and was significantly better than his 2018 season passer rating overall.
That efficiency was also reflected in his YAR, which comes in for the game at 1.19. Again, that’s better than Jake Fromm last season (0.95).
Indeed, if we look at how things turned out after the first week of College Football, Franks grades out quite well.
QB Yards above Replacement (YAR) for SEC teams after their first game. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
Franks ranked third among all SEC QBs in YAR in their first games. There were only seven QBs with a positive YAR. Those teams averaged 38.4 points per game. The fact that Florida only scored 24 is more a function of the turnovers than Franks’ efficiency.
Of course, those turnovers are a problem, and were the reason Miami was still in the game. But let’s look at them one-by-one.
On the first fumble, Franks and Perine messed up the mesh point. I blame Franks for this one. He has control of the ball until he chooses not to, and in this case allowed Perine to pull the ball away from him.
On the second fumble, that one was purely on running back Malik Davis. The pitch was good and Davis didn’t look it in. It also shouldn’t have been a turnover because Davis was down.
On the first interception, Franks read the defense perfectly and delivered the ball high and a little bit late. But Freddie Swain makes that catch eight or nine out of ten times, and even though he tips the ball, it went right to the Miami defender.
The second interception is on Franks. It looks like Florida was trying to run a stop-and-go and Miami covered it. At that point, he just needed to take the sack and let the clock run.
The mesh point fumble is something that Mullen will make sure is fixed moving forward. And of Franks’ 27 throws, 7.4 percent of them turned into interceptions. His career interception percentage is 2.5. I suspect that Franks is going to do a better job of protecting the ball moving forward through the air.
The reason I suspect that is because of how Franks’ YAR has improved in his time at Florida.
Yards above replacement (YAR) for Feleipe Franks tracked game-by-game. (Will Miles/Read and Reaction)
If you look at Franks’ 2017 season, the only two games he had a positive YAR were against Vanderbilt and against Missouri, two games where he came in to relieve either Luke Del Rio or Malik Zaire. Other than that, every game was below average.
His 2018 season was much more encouraging, though he basically hovered around average for much of the season (not counting Charleston Southern) with particularly poor performances against Georgia and Missouri. But in the final three games of the year (Idaho, FSU and Michigan), Franks’ performance took a major step forward.
And that step forward was also present against Miami, as Franks had a YAR of 1.19.
This is particularly encouraging considering Franks’ splits in 2018. Overall, Franks had a YAR of 0.19 or slightly above average. But against teams that finished in the AP Top-25, Franks had a YAR of -0.54.
So if you believe that Miami will end up as a top-25 team, you should be pretty encouraged that Franks was able to acquit himself so well versus the Hurricanes.
Differences Franks is showing on film
Of course, the numbers don’t mean much if Franks is making the same mistakes on film. Fortunately for Gators fans, I don’t think that is the case.
First, a caveat. Franks still makes mistakes. The interception he threw at the end of the game against the Hurricanes is evidence of that. But what I’m really looking for is progress because the question I’m asking is not whether Franks is perfect, but whether he’s getting better.
And I believe the answer to that is a definitive “yes”. That answer is based both on the statistical improvement he has shown, but also what he’s put on film.
On the play below Georgia is in a cover-2 defense. The first rule of the cover-2 is that the safeties have deep responsibilities to the outside. That means the corner can let a receiver go and play underneath. The last place you want to throw against a cover-2 is to the outside and short.
Franks throws this pass to the exact wrong place. The pre-snap alignment of the safeties screams “cover-2”. Then the safeties run back and towards the outside. He needs to know to come off of his outside receiver and dump the ball off to an open Lamical Perine (#22). Instead, he throws the ball into the teeth of the defense – without much conviction – and it turns into an easy interception.
Conversely, on this play Franks recognizes cover-2. The place where you can exploit this coverage is right down the middle, over the linebackers. Mullen had the perfect play called against this defense, but Franks has to know that’s where he should go with the ball and he gets the ball to tight end Kyle Pitts (#84) quickly, before the safety can get over to break up the pass.
It isn’t just that coverage where Franks is getting better. On the play below from the Georgia game, the Bulldogs are in a single high safety (1-Hi) look.
Franks’ responsibility here is to identify what that safety is doing. Instead, he locks on to his deep receiver (Grimes, #9) and leads the Georgia safety right into the play. Look at Franks’ head on the entire play. After faking the ball to the running back, his entire body is pointed towards the right side of the formation before he throws the ball.
Additionally, Franks underthrows the ball to Grimes just a little bit. Because he didn’t hold the safety and because the ball hung up a little bit, it became an easy pass breakup.
But against Miami, Franks executes this play correctly. Miami is also in a 1-Hi look. But this time, Franks has his eyes and body turned towards the left side of the offense right at the start. His first throw is Hammond down the middle, but he was confident enough to not lock on to that from the start.
Franks also threw the ball to Hammond right on stride. However, even if he’d hung the ball up just a little bit, the safety is so late getting over that he probably wouldn’t have been able to break the pass up. But because Franks hits Hammond without slowing him down, he is able to run for another 15-20 yards after the catch.
Takeaway
Looking at the 24 points scored and the way the offense stalled at times, it is understandable fans came away from the Miami game wanting more.
But what Franks showed during this game should be an encouragement to Gator Nation.
All the statistics point towards him being effective through the air. The issue wasn’t his efficiency, but the turnovers that limited his chances and the lack of a running game.
Mullen and Hevesy will eventually figure out how to get the running game going. And most of the turnovers are correctable mistakes.
That doesn’t mean Franks is going to be perfect. He likely is going to make some more head-scratching decisions throughout the season. But every QB does that to some extent.
And what are the other options anyway? Can Emory Jones or Kyle Trask step in and be completely mistake free to lead the Gators to glory?
Everyone wants to believe that there is some magical QB waiting in the wings who will be able to perform better than Franks. But I believe that the statistics and film suggest that Florida has a pretty good QB behind center right now.
Fan response and responsibility
Ms. Franks said something on Twitter that I have had multiple parents reach out to me to express privately. One particular parent told me the following:
“As a parent, it’s disappointing to know your child is subject to such negativity from the very people we thought would support him.”
That’s a sad commentary on the way these players are treated, particularly considering that in this instance, Florida beat Miami. It also indicates that Ms. Franks was just able or willing to say publicly what other parents feel but do not feel willing to express openly.
The passion of Gator fans is part of what makes college football and The Swamp special. But that passion can go overboard to a place where it is no longer criticism and instead becomes personal.
I’d suggest that when players screw up on the field, they expect and understand being criticized for that play. But I’d also suggest that if you say or tweet something that makes someone’s mother question whether her son would be better off not being a Gator, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror.
Feleipe Franks and his “maturity problem”
Fan response to Franks’ play is one thing. After all, fan is short for fanatic.
The media response to Feleipe Franks’ play against Miami has been abhorrent.
When unable to defend his take that Franks had regressed in the wake of Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence having a much worse night against a much worse defense, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy attacked his maturity.
Did Trevor Lawrence punt the ball in the stands postgame? Did he head butt an opposing player after whistle? Did he head for the camera after scoring a TD only to follow it with an INT? Franks “regression” starts with maturity.
— Greg McElroy (@GregMcElroy) August 30, 2019
The same sentiment was expressed on ESPN College Gameday by Kirk Herbstreit, who stated the following:
“So much for maturity. So much for showing he’s the CEO of that team and that offense. He showed a lack of that even worse against Miami than he showed all of last year. If Florida ever wants to ever get serious about winning the SEC East, their leader and their quarterback needs to show maturity or they’ve got no chance of challenging anybody in the East.” – Kirk Herbstreit
So I have a question for these and other media types: what about Jameis Winston?
After Winston’s behavior got him suspended – SUSPENDED – for a game against Clemson in 2014, Herbstreit said the following:
“There are much bigger issues for this team than Jameis Winston and what he did. They can’t run the football. The defense is giving up a lot of yards through the air, and if they keep playing the way they have in the first three or four weeks they’re not going to go undefeated.” – Kirk Herbstreit
So…maturity is important for Feleipe Franks when he expresses himself on the sideline, gets no penalties and throws a bad interception, but maturity is not a big issue when Winston gets himself suspended?
The problem is that this is incredibly lazy thinking. It’s easy to look at the turnovers and ascribe them to Franks’ attitude rather than simply say he made a poor play. Because that’s what happened: he made a bad throw.
Florida State didn’t win because Winston was mature (he wasn’t) any more than Florida is going to lose because Franks is immature (he isn’t). If Florida loses, it will be because Franks and the team played poorly, not because of his attitude or level of maturity.
At a bare minimum, Herbstreit should laud Franks for putting up with all the venom of his own fan base and the garbage coming from his own network. Franks has not gotten any ridiculous penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct on the field, been in any trouble with the law, or been in trouble with the Florida program. He’s even apparently paid for his own crablegs.
That’s true maturity.
John Welsh
Another good article. I’m ok with Franks mainly because I believe in the Mullen effect. I’d prefer he cut out the between play antics but it’s not a huge deal. I personally don’t believe in booing or criticizing school kids but I can see how some get caught up in the moment.
john schwerer
Thank you Will. Absolutely agree with all of your thoughts. I just wish that we could get our fan base to be more mature. Those who do not understand football are the most critical.
Spike
These stats cannot be true! Why I heard on tv and read elsewhere Franks has gotten worse and he is the reason we lost. He also is responsible for the measles outbreak in Washington and NY. Along with hurricane Dorian. Wait, we won the game? Lol
I like the YAR graph over the 25 games. Very interesting.
I read the Winston quote comparison from Herbie. I wonder what he and McElroy said about Baker Mayfields antics like grabbing his package and planting a flag at mid field. Or how about running from the cops while drunk in some nice off field behavior. Was all that mature? Mayfields immaturity on and off the field was so bad it propelled him to go #1 in the draft. Same with Winston.
Spike
Let’s not forget Herbstreit praising Baker Mayfields on field shenanigans and competitiveness after he won the heisman:
“My man @baker_mayfield6 is VERY misunderstood! His competitive spirit is special and sure, sometimes has gotten the best of him. But, he is a good man that is driven to be the best. Congrats Baker!”
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 10, 2017
From bleacher report:
Mayfield’s last year has included a public intoxication charge and arrest, a controversial flag planting at Ohio State, a threat during a pregame skirmish to “spank” Baylor players, and a crotch grab and various taunting during a game at Kansas.
Herbie is okay with all that…it’s just Bakers competitive spirit.
Nat Drapiza
Great take. Objective and on point. You hit the nail on the head with “lazy thinking.”
The media has been garbage, but I think the problem lies with the Gator fan base. When the fan base is so overly and unfairly critical, it tells the media what will keep the eyeballs. They are only giving the “fanatics” what will keep it going. Their job isn’t reporting, it’s ratings. The other examples, Winston and Mayfield, wouldn’t have played with their fans. Those fan bases would have gone some place else to be told what they wanted to hear.
I hope you can bring some reason to the fan base. I have nothing but respect for Franks handling of what is going on. I hope his ability to handle all of this holds up and he wins the East. Oh how the narrative will change.
RANDY
He have a group that look for any reason to hate, real or imagined. Add to the fact that most think they “really” understand the game, when in fact they are nothing more than mere scoreboard watchers. Then when they begin to critique the QB position you can generally multiply their ignorance of what it takes to play that position by a 100 fold.
The ignorance of the QB position extends way beyond the common “mouth-breather” fan all the way to NFL personnel types who routinely draft guys into the league that have zero chance of being able to play or they think they can drastically change them at this late point.
Thanks again for bringing solid data and perspective to the conversation.
Julie B.
An outstanding article. If there is anyone else out there doing this kind of statistical analysis I have not found them.
As for Feleipe–What has happened has gone way beyond Gator fans being typically hard on their qb. It’s been a perfect storm that’s inexplicable. When Herbstreit made his comments I was stunned. This has turned into something beyond unfair. This has turned into cruelty. Reports of Matt Corral’s behavior after their game, if true, are something far more disturbing than anything Feleipe has ever done. And yet I don’t believe the national media will say much on that at all. Certainly not Herbstreit–who has praised Corral for having a “swag” about him. Something unsettling is happening. I haven’t studied enough psychology to understand it.
Thank you for such a refreshing article. Really love what you do.
LW
On the 2nd clip of TE blocking, I think Krull did we he was supposed to. Looks like the pulling guard was supposed to get to the defender Krull passed but the OT (Forsythe?) got blown up and interferes with the Heggie’s pull. It delayed him enough to miss the defender.
Will Miles
You may be right. If so, apologies to Krull.
Sean A Nicholson
Good stuff Will. I remember you mentioning increasing Franks completion 63% at 9.8ypa is improvement enough for me. Herbie mad because he picked Mia. I remember Tebow interacting with fans quite a bit. Jarren williams shushed the crowd on Miami tipped go ahead TD to Jordan. Crickets. Frank’s needs to continue being boisterous, every since USC when the narrative started, we havent lost, and he has undoubtedly PROGRESSED.
Metgator
I doubt national commentators have it in for UF, or that they dislike FF. As for Winston and Mayfield, both were far more accomplished than Franks, having won big games against talented and motivated opponents. Franks’ immaturities can ead directly to bad or inconsistent decision-making. We’ve seen time and again in big spots his composure disappears, which leads to poor decisions. Maybe he can change, but if he doesn’t get ready for a 7-5 season.
Will Miles
UF isn’t finishing 7-5
Gator Trader
Ridiculous!
RANDY
Did you read the article?
Gatorstats
One improvement I’d love to see with your stats is moving from the correlation of yards per possession (not pace based) vs pts per game(definitely pace based). Just like total possessions in the red zone vs ppg. The issue is YPP takes pace out of the efficiency rating, yet total posessions inside the red zone and total ppg do not. The correlation is relevant, but if we are going to continue to play at one of the slower paces, comparing these stats to point per possession might give us a better sense of the offensive efficiency.
James
Always like the articles. One question completely unrelated to Franks, though—in the last video in the first set of 3, you ascribe the missed block to Krull. And he barely touches Frierson. But it almost looks like his role is to chip Frierson and climb to the safety. If he stayed on Frierson, the safety is on Pierce pretty quickly. Looks like 61 is the primary blocker for Frierson. Still would be nice for Krull to slow him down a bit.
Thanks, and good article. Looking forward to seeing a much cleaner game next week.
Will Miles
Maybe. You’re not the only person to point this out. The way he reacted when Frierson went by is what made me think it was his responsibility.
Ken
Great read!
I have often thought if one of my sons was being recruited would I want them to go to UF.
Of course that would be awesome on the front end, but all that pile on for someone like Franks, who has helped us have the best offense we have had since Mullen left is just way too extra.
It has to be a deterrent for future recruits the only saving grace is if we assume all fan bases do the same on social media.
I personally expect Franks and the offense to perform great over the next three games and continue to get better each game. We will see how the media choose to spin the narrative then.
Bob
Another strong article. I think the notion of “Gator Standard” should apply to students, alumni, and fans. What do we stand for? How do we respond to adversity? What values do we share? Certainly the vitriol on twitter, message boards and podcasts represents the worst in our community not the Standard we should set for being part of an exceptional institution.
Best wishes to all those facing the threat of Hurricane Dorian
Lance King
Since when has it been wrong for any Gator to play with confidence, emotion and no regrets. Gators are supposed to be cocky even when we stink because we’re the best regardless. Frank’s attitude is a part of every good team UF has ever had. The statues out front have that attitude. Sounds like there are a few fans that don’t know what good football looks like. As for the media, Herbie and McElroy are fans not analyst. Think back to all the praise McElroy gave McElwain because he coached him. Since Florida fired him McElroy slams Florida every chance.
4Gators
Great perspective from Will on this one but more than one thing can be right. Your assessment of Franks truly not regressing with tangible data confirms what my eyes tell me on his play from McElwain era to the Mullen era.
However, it is a tad bit unfair to Gator fans to not expect them to have expectations and standards for which we want the players to perform and comport themselves with. When players are not meeting up to those standards some get personal with it and that is not right but those like me who were not quite happy and feel that Felipe could and should do better should not feel remorse for that. I think most fans are pulling for Felipe and he was not all bad but there is truth to how you comport yourself as well as a time and place for everything. The game was close but not over and it seemed his concentration was more on proving something to people by showboating on all positive plays he made. I have no problem with the South Carolina game but I believe Felipe took it a tad bit too far in the Miami game by talking into the camera and came off like a jerk . Celebrate how you want after the game but focus on the game and winning the game for your team, family, and fans first. To me and others, it seemed like his priority was to prove people wrong during the game with showboating antics and lashing out for every good play made. It’s time to expect that you can play at a high level and when you do move on to the next play and do it again. Let your play in game speak louder than any antics then after the game for some that give it to you unfairly you’re free to speak your mind or celebrate how you want. I know you are growing and I am going to be fair and patient while you figure this balancing act out as you are still coming into your own.
Matthew Johnson
Great read! I didn’t get to play much football growing up. However, I have watched for quit some time now. I’ve watched Florida go from a decent team to a great team, to wonder how this year will go to, can we just start over to, we just got Mullen back and it’s about to get real because he knows the Gator standard and that is coming back to, hey, I think we have a chance at proving everyone wrong this year.
Watching Franks the past couple years has been interesting. The first year with McElwain was AWFUL! Seeing him last year “first year under Mullen”, he had made a 180 degree turn. Was 100% better than the previous year. Not gonna lie, there were times last year that I was ready to see Trask take over. After watching Franks in the final 4 games, I was excited to see how well he does this year.
Our game against Miami shouldn’t have even been close. We should’ve had them blown out and ready to go home after the first quarter. The first fumble with Perine, I think Franks saw Grimes wide open on the outside and wanted to pull it to make that pass but it was too late. The second fumble was on Davis and should not have been a fumble. Davis was down, with the ball. The first interception was on the receiver. It hit both of his hands. Should’ve been a reception. The second int, was all on Franks. That ball should’ve been thrown away.
In my opinion, Franks is going to do really good this year and if our defense can play without injuries like it did against Miami, we should be playing in Atlanta again in the SEC championship game and playoffs! Fans need to get on board this wagon and support Mullen’s decisions on who our QB is, support Franks and quit bashing them on social media and live up to the Gator standard and fans and cheer them on to a really good season.
GO GATORS!!
Ben Bennett
Your football analysis is very in depth and obviously well written. As far as Franks goes, if someone just gets him to tone down the hot dog antics, at least some of the criticism of him will easily go away. I know, the kid is probably only about 20, but a lot of his issues are self inflicted. Comparing him to Winston isn’t fair to either one. (Different issues and different talent levels. ) As far as tight end blocking goes, if I were coaching Krull would not even be in the game. His effort was awful. Whatever happened to Gamble? Is he no longer an option? Again, enjoy the column. Keep ’em coming!
Todd Smith
I have enjoyed reading your very data driven logic. Keep up your work and analysis.
I love the crab legs! I wonder if you have researched how many crab legs a quarterback can eat when a quarterback has free shoes on his feet??
Likelyyou
I m neither a Frankaphobe nor Frankaphile. I do think his antics are overblown. He s definitely no Danny Wuerffel or Tim Tebow when it comes to demeanor but few are and, for that matter, CB s posing after pass breakups irk me more. I ll take Franks with a grain of salt and wish him well when he leaves. We ve seen one game this season so it s a little early to judge if he s regressed or improved. On the last INT, in 2017 he makes the same mistake, but in 2018 I think he pulls it down and takes the sack, so that s regression. The mesh is on Franks but Perine gets some of the blame (if the QB has two hands on the ball it s not yours). The other INT could have been caught so there s that. Some QBs make everybody better. Some QB s don t need everybody to do their job correctly. Franks ain t that guy. If everybody executes correctly then he s an average QB. But, in his favor, he s a big guy who if used correctly could be slightly above average. Bottom line is that for Franks to be better everyone else has to be be better. I m a yards per play guy. Of course the final score is all that matters but YPP is telling and isn t skewed by plays per game so at the very least it s an instructive measure. Will MIles, as per usual, has an interesting take specifically regarding the red-zone. Can t argue with the more you get there, the more chances to score . Better to get there 10 times and score 50% of the time than to get there only once and score 100% of the time.