Florida falls to LSU

Embed from Getty Images

If you would have told me that Anthony Richardson would have zero turnovers, run for over 100 yards, throw and run for a touchdown and that Florida would score 35 points against LSU, I would have told you that Florida won this game in a laugher.

Instead, it was LSU that was left laughing after a 45-35 win over the Gators that was just embarrassing for the Gators, and specifically the Gators defense.

It’s not embarrassing to lose to LSU. The Tigers are a proud program with multiple national titles and a talent level at least equivalent to Florida. This game is usually a turning point in Florida’s schedule, whether good or bad, because LSU is a quality opponent.

What’s embarrassing is giving up six touchdowns on six drives to start the game. This is the same LSU team that scored 23 points against FSU, 31 against Mississippi State, 21 against Auburn and 13 against Tennessee. Even the one punt Florida’s defense “forced” was essentially a drop by the LSU wide receiver.

Billy Napier said that when his team watches the film, they are going to be sick at the opportunities they left on the field. He can say that about the offense for a play or two. But he’s going to have to say that for every single defensive possession for LSU because that was about the worst defensive performance I can remember.

That’s certainly on the players. But it’s on defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and Napier as well. It’s the coaches job to put their players in the best position to succeed.

That certainly didn’t happen against LSU.

What was that – Gators defense edition?

LSU came into this game averaging 5.2 yards per play against FBS opponents, 79th in the country. They also ranked 83rd in points scored at 25.2. The thing stopping them from being very good was a complete dearth of explosive (20-plus yard) plays, as they came in averaging 3.7 per game. They had six against the Gators.

Those explosives included a 50-yard run and passes of 40 and 54 yards. They only had seven plays over 40 yards all season coming into this one, so again, the Gators defense failed in ways other defenses have not.

Amazingly though, the explosive plays weren’t even the worst stat of the night for the defense. The Gators defense gave up 8-12 (67%) third down conversions. They then gave up two fourth down conversions after getting stops on third down. That’s how you end up giving up touchdowns on damn near every drive: you just never get off the field.

So here is every third down play the defense faced against LSU, with an analysis of what I think happened for each one. Buckle up.

On this play, Patrick Toney decides to rush three with Ventrell Miller acting as a spy on LSU QB Jayden Daniels. Shemar James (#6) picks up the LSU running back out of the backfield, so what you have is three LSU receivers out against six defenders playing zone.

The three-man rush gives Daniels over five seconds to throw, which means Kayshon Boutte is able to find an opening in the zone and LSU is able to convert. Boutte then breaks two tackles to convert a 20-yard gain into a 40-yard gain.

Verdict – Scheme fine, didn’t win

I’m amazed this wasn’t a touchdown for LSU. The first thing you see is that Florida has three defensive backs behind the sticks lined up against three receivers. But I’m not sure why Trey Dean and Jaydon Hill (circled) are lined up the way they are, particularly Dean, who I think is responsible for LSU’s tight end.

Dean backpedals at the snap, which means LSU has four blockers to Florida’s three defenders. The Gators were really fortunate that LSU’s wide receiver (#8) completely whiffed on Rashad Torrence (#22) or this would have been a huge gain.

Verdict – Poor scheme

Toney went back to the well again on this third down, rushing three defenders with a spy (Tyreak Sapp, #94) dropping into the middle of the defense. LSU actually made this a little bit easier for the Gators by having two receivers in the same area. That’s why Amari Burney was close enough to make it a bang-bang play.

This was the only third down that LSU didn’t convert in the first half. But it was a successful play, as it set up a fourth-and-1 that they would convert instead of forcing them to settle for a long field goal.

Verdict – Scheme fine, didn’t win

This is a great play call by LSU. By combining a pulling tight end with a read-option play, this is more like a triple option than a traditional read-option. You can see that Princely Umanmielen (circled) crashes down to try and take the running back. That means LSU QB Jayden Daniels pulls the ball from his running back.

But it also means that Ventrell Miller (#51) and Shemar James (#6) – both shown with arrows – have to get outside to take on Daniels and the LSU tight end, a really difficult ask. Neither is able to get out there and it is an easy conversion for the Tigers.

Verdict – LSU wins

Toney changed course on this third-and-8, blitzing five (both linebackers) and dropping a lineman into coverage. That left Jaydon Hill in man coverage on the outside and LSU had a man-buster route called on that side with Kayshon Boutte running a pick to give his running mate a step on Hill.

Could this be pass interference? Yes, but it’s rarely called. The bigger issue is that you brought two blitzing linebackers and neither one could get home until it was too late. This exact blitz gave the exact same result against Tennessee just a few weeks ago.

Verdict – Poor scheme

So the next time, Toney went back to his three-man rush with a spy. The problem is that the Gators had two spies on the play (Gervon Dexter and Shemar James, circled). I suspect that James was supposed to read the running back quickly and sink back into coverage to help Ventrell Miller. After all, you’d rather allow a dump pass to the running back and come up and make the tackle.

Miller got beat right away, but had James sunk deeper, perhaps Daniels doesn’t make the throw. Instead, it’s an easy pitch-and-catch for a huge play for LSU against a linebacker that the opposition knows they can take advantage of in coverage.

Verdict – Scheme questionable, didn’t win

Obviously, the first thing that went wrong here was the offsides penalty, which allows Daniels to take a shot without any risk. But the other thing to note is that Florida has deep safety help on the outside (4 defenders for 3 receivers) while double covering the receiver up top.

Daniels does a nice job here of looking off the safety. He turns his entire body towards the receiver at the top, but he knows he isn’t throwing there because he’s double covered. Once he turns back to the other side, Rashad Torrence (#22) has drifted over the middle to help with the receiver coming across the middle. That means Daniels has one-on-one on the outside and he takes advantage of it.

Verdict – Scheme fine, didn’t win

This is great execution by LSU. When they motion the receiver from the right side of the formation to the left, it tells Daniels that he has man-to-man on the outside without any help. That means the corner has to play a go-route and is going to get beat on any sort of stop or back shoulder throw.

That’s exactly what happens, as Daniels lets go of the ball before his receiver ever breaks. But when the receiver does break, Jaydon Hill can’t stop soon enough and it ends up an easy completion.

Verdict – LSU wins

This is the same option play that LSU ran earlier. This time, Florida has everyone in the right position. Justus Boone (#12) crashes to take the running back. When the pulling tight end comes across the formation, he’s met by safety Miguel Mitchell (#10). And safety Kamari Wilson (#5) is in perfect position to come up and make the tackle against Daniels.

But Wilson overruns the play, allowing Daniels to cut back towards the middle. Mitchell did a great job of funneling it back towards Wilson and Wilson has to make that stop.

Verdict – Scheme fine, didn’t win

This was the only stop that turned into an actual punt. But again, LSU won the play. Florida decided to blitz the slot corner, replacing the corner with safety Trey Dean. Dean is late coming up as he tries to disguise the blitz, but Daniels sees it right away and finds his slot receiver (Kayshon Boutte) in the space vacating by the blitzing defensive back.

Boutte should make this catch. If he does, I’m not sure Dean makes the tackle and it’s probably a big play. Regardless, Florida got lucky to get the ball back as this was probably one of the easier conversions on the night for LSU and they messed it up.

Verdict – Poor scheme

This one just made me laugh. The Gators are up at the line of scrimmage threatening to bring heavy pressure. They don’t do that as they drop both safeties deep, only rush three defenders, and drop Cox, Umanmielen and Miller all into coverage. All three defenders find Kayshon Boutte but nobody goes to help Jason Marshall on the outside.

This…..is stupid. You threaten to rush that many people because you want the opponent to throw fast expecting a blitz (i.e. a slant). Why are the safeties dropping then? And why aren’t the defensive linemen dropping into zones instead of all dropping into the same zone?

The scheme here is terrible. The execution is terrible. And it cost the Gators two minutes of game time because even though LSU wasn’t able to convert this third down, they converted the fourth-and-1 on the next play.

Verdict – Poor scheme, didn’t win

I guess you could say the Gators saved their best for last. This was the only third down play that was actually successful, and it required stopping a QB draw on a third-and-12 when all LSU was trying to do was gain back a couple of yards for a field goal attempt.

Gervon Dexter wins his one-on-one battle up-front and is able to corral Daniels in the backfield. It’s a good thing too because the play was blocked really well if Daniels got past Dexter.

Verdict – Individual effort wins the play

Takeaway

Billy Napier’s right when he says that the struggles on defense aren’t due to any one thing. You can see above on just the third down plays that sometimes the scheme is poor, sometimes the players aren’t executing their responsibilities and sometimes the opposition wins the play because of their scheme.

But when this sort of thing happens play after play, game after game, it’s no longer on the players.

Kaiir Elam is a fine player. Zachary Carter is a fine player. You can’t tell me that losing those two guys has made the defense go from giving up 5.2 yards per play last season (still unacceptable for a Gators defense) to giving up a whopping 6.0 yards per play this season.

The 2020 defense – you know, the one that cost the Gators a real shot at a playoff and was probably the worst Gators defense any of us had ever seen – only gave up 5.8 yards per play, and that was with essentially mailing it in against Oklahoma.

What that means is that Billy Napier, Patrick Toney and Sean Spencer (remember, he’s a co-defensive coordinator) have some explaining to do. The defense is horrid, and these players were a big part of a defense that wasn’t great, but wasn’t a complete dumpster fire last year.

Lack of recruiting isn’t an excuse for missed assignments and poor scheme. It’s not an excuse for overrunning gaps and missing tackles. These guys are plenty talented to be able to compete with a team like LSU.

Because that’s the biggest problem I and many fans had with the Gators performance Saturday night.

The Gators came out after halftime and got run over by LSU like the Tigers were playing Florida A&M, not the University of Florida. Ventrell Miller then gathered the troops on the sideline and tried to fire them up, but LSU drove right down the field on the next drive to make it 42-21.

When you give up six touchdowns in six possessions to start a game, it no longer has to do with scheme or talent or assignment football. It has to do with effort and attitude. And that problem ultimately lies with the coaches.

College football programs are all about hope. When you haven’t won big in a while, you don’t sell a winning team as much as you sell the hope that your team and program is on the path to sustained winning. Dan Mullen won a bunch of games, but his recruiting and stubbornness to change – particularly his defensive coordinator – meant that neither the fans nor administration had that hope.

Napier’s program is like a bank account, making deposits into that hope account with every recruiting win and every sign of significant on-field improvement early. But when you see a defense that has no identity and shows no progress – and perhaps even regresses – that’s an awfully large withdrawl.

Napier has two weeks to try and figure out what’s wrong before his next performance. Because at this point, with as bad as the defense has been there’s really only one way for this defense to make a deposit in a way that truly bolsters his account.

Shut down Georgia.