Frustration boils over; Sumrall has more questions than answers
By Franz Beard
Jon Sumrall wore the look of a coach frantically searching for answers that will somehow provide a rallying point for a team dangerously close to hitting rock bottom. Ever since a far too easy first four games as Florida’s head coach, bright spots seem fewer and farther between. The last win for the Gators – a come from behind 27-24 upset of then 7th-ranked Texas – seems a distant memory. In the two games since, the Gators have hit new lows offensively, scoring a single touchdown in each game while hanging the defense out to dry with its failure to move the ball well enough to generate points.
“Am I frustrated?” Sumrall asked in his post game press conference after the latest debacle, a 23-7 loss that might have saved Oklahoma coach Brent Venables’ job while plunging the Gators further into what seems to be an offensive black hole. “Yeah. Am I disappointed? Yeah but I’m not going to whine and complain to anybody.”
He knows thousands of fingers point to his quarterbacks as the source of inadequacy that has gripped the Gators ever since that blowout win over Ole Miss at The Swamp the final Saturday of September. Aaron Philo, the starting quarterback in Florida’s 4-0 start in September, lost three of the games he started in October. Tramell Jones, the starter in the Texas win, took all but one of the snaps Saturday night when the Gators generated a season-low 203 yards.
Jones threw a pair of interceptions, had only one completion of more than 16 yards and that was more a tribute to the speed and open field running of Duke Clark who turned a safety valve pass behind the line of scrimmage into a 33-yard gain deep into Oklahoma territory. Jones completed 10-22 passes for 133 yards and netted seven yards on 11 carries, the positive yards offset by three sacks for -26 yards in losses.
This was hardly what the Gators needed but to lay all the blame on Jones is unfair and Sumrall knows it.
“Whoever's back there is going to struggle with the lack of execution across the offense as a whole,” Sumrall said.
He is right, of course, but there is no single more important position in all of competitive sports than the starting quarterback of a football team, who gets far too much praise when there is a winning effort, and too much of the blame when there is a loss.
Circle two plays on Florida’s second possession of the first quarter as the woulda couldas that might have prevented the Gators from the gravitational pull of the black hole that has completely dismantled the juggernaut of the first four games. Trying to answer Oklahoma’s field goal that gave the Sooners a 3-0 lead with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter, Jones completed passes of nine and 15 yards to Dallas Wilson while moving the Gators 34 yards to the OU 42 where they faced a manageable third-and-six.
Rolling to his right to evade the Oklahoma pass rush, Jones squared his shoulders and delivered a strike to Bailey Stockton along the sideline at the Sooner 24 only to have the play nullified by a holding penalty on right tackle Caden Jones. On the next play, Tramell Jones broke containment in the pocket and scrambled for 18 yards to the Oklahoma 34, but again, Caden Jones was flagged for a hold.
Rather than the momentum of two big plays, the penalties were the equivalent of a stiletto to the heart. A drive that could have and should have produced at least a tying field goal became third and 25 all the way back at the Florida 38.
The first penalty Sumrall had already seen on a sideline iPad. “I thought it was a really good call,” he said.
The second? Dubious at best.
“I can't really say a whole lot about the other one, but I didn't love it,” Sumrall said. “Maybe it was a good call, but those take the wind out of your sails when you have a positive play that's going to get you on track. I mean, it's a 10-yard penalty … and, you know, we took him [Caden Jones] out a little bit, but when we pull them out and say, ‘Look, man, we're going to take you out, you're probably going to go back in at some point, but you need to kind of calm down, and we can't shoot ourselves in the foot there. We, the Gators, can't beat the Gators, and as soon as we get something positive going, it felt like offensive in those situations sort of derailed our eyes. It's hard to overcome holding cones that are for 10 yards that really put you behind the chains.”
Opportunities to put points on the scoreboard were a rarity against an Oklahoma defense that schemed well, overwhelming the offensive line with more defenders than there were blockers while keeping everything in front of the safeties. Trailing 10-0 in the second quarter, Bailey Stockton ran a punt back 31 yards to the UF 48 to set up a four-play drive that was aided by a 10-yard defensive holding flag against the Sooners. A 9-yard scramble by Jones coupled with the penalty, consecutive runs of 13 and five yards by Duke Clark, and a 15-yard sweep around the right side by Jadan Baugh got the TD, keeping alive Florida’s streak of 482 games since the Gators were last shut out.
The momentum of that TD died a slow death as Oklahoma countered with an 8-play, 44-yard drive for a field goal with 36 seconds left in the first half.
Florida came up empty on two third quarter possessions that could have reversed the Gators’ fortunes. On the first possession of the quarter, second-and-four was stonewalled on an ill-advised keeper by Jones that barely got back to the line of scrimmage. On the next play, Jones overshot tight end Luke Harpring who was open 20 yards downfield at the Florida 40.
The next possession was the killer.
Taking over at the UF 31 with 11:31 left in the third quarter after an Oklahoma punt, Jones and Duke Clark connected on Florida’s biggest play of the day, the 33-yard dump off pass that gave the Gators a first down at the OU 24. The sequence of plays that followed were incomplete pass, Jadan Baugh for six yards and Jones for one on a play the OU defense was waiting for. Fourth-and-three at the Oklahoma 18. Points were a necessity but sensing few opportunities to put points on the scoreboard, Sumrall eschewed what would have been a chip shot field goal for Patrick Durkin in favor of leaving the offense on the field.
The result, an under duress throw by Jones off his back foot that was way off target in the end zone and intercepted by a diving Courtland Guillory. The Gators wouldn’t threaten again.
“I felt like we were down 13-7,” Sumrall said. “I thought it was going to take 14 points at least [to win] and we hadn't been down in the red zone enough for me to feel like real confident we were going to get a bunch more trips. And so I made a decision with the analytics that we used, the book we used, and everybody used it.”
Perhaps a case of the right decision and poor execution. Whatever the case, it didn’t work and there wasn’t another opportunity to be had for points.
Offensive frustrations spilled over to the defense. The offense offered no relief by taking time off the clock. The defense struggled to stop Oklahoma all night on third-and-short situations. All that spilled over to a 20-play drive that consumed 12:45 of the clock starting with 2:41 left in the third quarter, ending with 4:56 left in the game. Most of the plays were the chip away variety that saw Oklahoma convert five third downs, four for a first down, one for a touchdown.
“They took the air out of the football and they bled it,” Sumrall said.
What else could he say? The defense gave up only 351 yards all night and just seven plays of 10 or more yards. What the Gators were unable to do was stop the Sooners on third and fewer than three yards. The Sooners converted, the defense couldn’t get off the field and the end result was Oklahoma ran off 73 offensive plays that consumed a whopping 37:50 off the clock. Florida ran only 47 plays the entire game.
And so the frustration boiled over. Sumrall knows something has to be done, but what? This is a dance with what brung ya point of the season and this is college football, not the NFL where trades and free agents can sometimes stop the bleeding.
“We've got to stop the train going the wrong direction so they can go back the right way,” Sumrall said. “But we have to, more importantly, for the long-term build of what we're trying to get done, we've got to grow and keep responding when things aren't going good.”
And right now not going good has the Gators spiraling toward rock bottom. They haven’t hit rock bottom just yet, but it’s within reach out and touch distance. Sumrall defined attitude and toughness as pillars of the program. Right now both are being tested to the max.
Is it too late to bring this bad stretch of football to a screeching halt?
“I define attitude as your demeanor, your drive, and your desire,” Sumrall said. “Demeanor is your body language. Drive and desire is how badly you want to do something. I think we're learning that right now. Like, you know, I told our team, you know, tough things, when you go through really tough things, that reveals what you're made of, and I'm frustrated. Our whole team is frustrated … And I appreciate that we've got a fan base that's pissed off that we played the way we did tonight. But my attitude's unwavering to the long-term build that we're going to do here. I can't speak for everybody, but my attitude, while I'm pissed off, I'm also maybe more hungry right now than ever to get this right and that's not going to change. I do think things are going really, really bad and we have to respond … you’re either built for this or you're not and I'm a competitor. I'm going to challenge our guys every day to keep bringing it. We're not where I want us to be. I don't think we're where anybody wants us to be. And sometimes failure is not fatal unless you allow it to be. And it doesn't mean I'm okay failing forever. We've got to get this right.”
Elsewhere in the SEC
No. 2 Georgia (8-1, 6-1 SEC) 42, No. 10 Ole Miss (6-3, 4-3 SEC) 7: It will be an upset if anyone other than Georgia ascends to the No. 1 ranking after the way the Bulldogs destroyed Ole Miss in Oxford. Gunner Stockton threw only nine passes, completing nine for 186 yards, but four of the completions went for touchdowns, three to Talyn Taylor, whose four catches were good for 140 yards. Georgia ran for 295 yards, didn’t turn the ball over and committed only three penalties for -16 yards. The defense did its part by holding Ole Miss to 252 total yards while forcing two turnovers and sacking Trinidad Chambliss five times.
No. 5 Alabama (7-2, 5-2 SEC) 31, No. 14 LSU (6-3, 3-3 SEC) 13: LSU outgained Alabama by 174 yards and dominated time of possession by five full minutes, not that any of that mattered. Alabama fell behind 13-10 in the third quarter then answered with three touchdowns, all of them passes from Keelon Russell. Even though the Crimson Tide gave up 457 yards, the defense forced two turnovers, sacked Sam Leavitt five times and held LSU to 0-4 on fourth downs. The win kept Alabama one game behind SEC leading Georgia while all but eliminating LSU from the conference race and College Football Playoff contention.
No. 13 Tennessee (7-2, 4-2 SEC) 34, No. 6 Kentucky (7-2, 5-2 SEC) 6: The Vols spoiled Kentucky’s Cinderella story by scoring three fourth quarter touchdowns to turn what promised to be a white knuckles finish into a rout. DeSean Bishop, who ran for 109 yards, scored two fourth quarter touchdowns, both on five-yard runs to put the game away. The Vols threw only 15 passes the entire game, relying instead on its run game which pounded away for 240 yards. Tennessee’s defense forced three turnovers, sacked Kenny Michey five times and held the Wildcats to a pair of first half field goals. Tennessee dominated time of possession 35:17 to 24:43. The win kept the Vols within a game of league leading Georgia and dropped Kentucky out of a tie for first.
No. 7 Texas (7-2, 4-2 SEC) 34, No. 18 Missouri (6-3, 3-3 SEC) 20: Trailing 20-13 late in the third quarter, Texas rallied to score three straight touchdowns to remain in the hunt for a spot in the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. Arch Manning had one of the best games of his career, hitting 28-38 of his passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Manning threw touchdowns of 23 to Derek Cooper, 25 to Jermaine Bishop and 23 to running back Raleek Brown, who also ran for 85 yards and scored a rushing TD. The Texas defense held Missouri to 3-16 on third downs, forcing Missouri into three punts and a fumble in the fourth quarter. For Missouri, this was for all practical purposes an elimination game from both SEC and CFP contention.
No. 21 South Carolina (6-3, 4-3 SEC) 17, Texas A&M (4-5, 1-5 SEC) 9: The Aggies managed only three field goals against South Carolina’s bend but don’t break defense. The Aggies outgained South Carolina 457-360 but couldn’t put touchdowns on the scoreboard. In winning its fourth straight game, the Gamecocks got 251 passing yards and a touchdown plus another 34 yards and a TD on the run. The loss assured Texas A&M of a losing record in SEC play.
Auburn (5-4, 3-4 SEC) 26, Arkansas (3-6, 1-5 SEC) 23: Auburn drove 51 yards on 10 plays to set up a game-winning 43-yard field goal by Alex McPherson with 33 seconds left. Arkansas still had a chance to either tie or win the game, but Auburn came up with a defensive stop on the game’s final play to secure its fourth one-possession win of the season. Byrum Brown threw for 180 yards and a TD while running for 122 and another score for the Tigers who are within a game of bowl eligibility.
Vanderbilt (4-5, 1-5 SEC) 25, Mississippi State (4-5, 2-5 SEC) 23: Vandy kept alive its hopes of bowl eligibility when it foiled a game-tying two-point conversion attempt with 30 seconds remaining. Vanderbilt held a 16-0 lead at the half but Mississippi State rallied behind AJ Swann, whose career began four seasons ago at Vanderbilt. The win broke a five-game losing streak for Vanderbilt and was the fifth consecutive loss for Mississippi State, which hasn’t won since Kamario Taylor’s season-ending injury.
Comments