No sugar coating from Sumrall: Gators have to get better in a hurry
Ultimately, winning is what matters most not the aesthetics.
The Florida Gators got their win Saturday night at The Swamp, but to call the 52-3 beatdown of the Campbell Camels anything more than expected would be sugar coating, something Jon Sumrall refused to do when he addressed the media in the south end zone meeting room of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
“What's on my mind is how do we get this team better because where we are right now is not good enough,” Sumrall said in his suck it up Buttercup tone of voice. “A lot I was not pleased with, to be quite honest with you. Some guys proved maybe in the second half, you get an opportunity to prove people right or wrong, some guys proved us right why they're not playing right now.”
There is that old coaching adage the most measurable progress is made from week one to week two. In the case of Florida vs. Campbell, that is a partial truth. Special teams, for example, got a dazzling performance from Vernell Brown III, who had back-to-back punt returns for touchdowns (64 and 70 yards), the first time that’s happened in a Florida game since Jacquez Green pulled it off 30 years ago. Brown’s 219 punt return yards were the second highest total in Southeastern Conference history. Quarterback Aaron Philo completed 16 of his 21 pass attempts for 242 yards and two touchdowns plus he ran for another TD. For the second straight week Jadan Baugh carried the ball 14 times, this time netting 136 yards and two touchdowns. Dallas Wilson caught five passes for 104 yards and a TD. The defense, while still not playing anywhere close to the level Sumrall expects, was better in week two than it was in week one. Campbell was held without a touchdown and just 210 yards.
For the most part, the first half was pretty. The not so pretty devolved into a second half in which the Gators had their fair share of shots to the feet as a 45-3 halftime lead gave way to a Murphy's Law 30 minutes in much of what could have gone wrong did go wrong.
It started with the first play from scrimmage when Baugh did one of his over, under, around and through jobs for a 42-yard gain to the Campbell 18 only to have it called back when TJ Shanahan was whistled for holding. In the official stat books, that goes down as no play. So, Philo’s 5-yard scramble on what was officially the first play of the second half saw another hankee on the turf, this one for unnecessary roughness and, just like the holding call, charged to Shanahan.
“You get to conference play, you're in first-and-25, I might as well get the punt team ready most of the time,” Sumrall said. “Not all the time, but most of the time. Just go ahead and get them at their spot to get ready to take the field.”
Well, the Gators did have to punt. Alec Clark made his first appearance of the season and launched a 55-yarder but as Sumrall sees it, that was inevitable after major penalties on consecutive plays.
Think of that as an omen of things to come.
Aaron Chiles was flagged for roughing the passer on Campell’s first possession of the second half, turning a 13-yard pass play into a 28-yard gain to the 47. That led to an unreturnable punt that gave the Gators starting field position at their own 20. A couple of plays later with a first-and-10 at midfield, Baugh powered his way for a 6-yard gain but Roderick Kearney was called for unnecessary roughness, a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the foul that moved the ball back to the UF 41. Rather than second and four in Campbell territory, it was second and an overnight hike.
This time when Florida was forced to punt, Clark saw green grass ahead and tried to leg it out for the 14 yards needed to move the chains. He came up about a half yard short.
The Florida defense did a three-and-out to force a Campbell punt but backup returner, freshman Justin Williams, muffed it and Campbell recovered at the Florida 16. A potential score by the Camels was averted when a Campbell player joined in the penalty fun. That 15-yard unnecessary roughness call against John Rodriguez moved the ball back to the limits of placekicker Alex Crabb’s range. He boinked a 36-yard field goal attempt.
Something finally went right for the Gators on the ensuing possession. Baugh moved the pile on a 15-yard run, then criss-crossed the field on the next play for a 75-yard TD run that not only put him over the 100-yard mark for the game, but gave the Gators their only score of the second half.
In the fourth quarter, backup QB Tramell Jones was charged with an interception when he was blindsided as he attempted to throw.
So there you have it. A rather uninspired second half, the kind that drew the consternation of the head coach, who has to prep his team for the SEC opener on the road at Auburn next week.
Sumrall didn’t mince words.
“We had a couple of holds and a couple of personal fouls,” Sumrall said. “It's really frustrating. Like, that was one of the things I was most pleased with in week one. We had four penalties last week. The first half this week it felt fairly clean. The second half, every time you felt like we had an explosive play, there's another penalty flag, another penalty flag. You can't do that. The Gators can't beat the Gators. When you do that in the games we're getting ready to go play, we will lose the game. I think we will not give ourselves an opportunity to win the game. We have to clean a lot of that up.”
Gators beating Gators. It does seem that was what the Gators were doing. And it wasn’t necessarily all about a bad second half. There were opportunities in the first half in which the Gators couldn’t seem to get the running game going. Campbell certainly keyed its defense around stopping Baugh, but the offensive line play wasn’t as crisp as it was the week before. Far too many times linemen didn’t hold their block or failed to get to the second level to create alleys for runners. On Florida’s first offensive play of the game, Philo went deep but instead of a big gainer, the ball fell incomplete because there were two UF receivers within a couple of yards of each other. He overshot on another deep throw later in the half when he scrambled to his right and rushed a throw.
The defense gave up 63 yards on Campbell’s first possession of the game, a drive that ended with a field goal, but afterward allowed only 157 yards. It wasn’t a bad performance but could have been, should have been better. Missed tackles were once again an issue. The pass rush generated only two sacks. There were no interceptions and Campbell held the ball for 31:35.
Sumrall refused to attribute some of the second half issues to inexperience or youth, essentially calling those excuses.
“I expect every player on our team when they get on the team is to play to the standard that is a Florida Gator,” Sumrall said. “I don't care if you're a first, second or third team player, there is a standard here. It's non-negotiable. Doesn't matter how many reps you got in practice, the standard has to be met all the time. I'm not okay with a guy telling me, I'm a freshman or ‘Hey, I only got this many reps in practice.’”
As a whole, Sumrall viewed the entire Campbell game as a referendum on accountability. There were indeed some bright spots, but the second half was a blight. This was a bad team the Gators were facing. Campbell is a very average team from a mid-tier level of what used to be called Division I-AA. The Camels might have two or three players on their roster, at best, who could make a Southeastern Conference roster.
Winning by 49 points looks good on paper, but Sumrall knows the Gators could have done much better. He also knows that if there isn’t marked improvement in focus and attention to detail next week, the SEC portion of the schedule has a chance to start badly.
“While I'm really happy to be 1-0 this week, I'm not real pleased with just maybe where we are from a maturity standpoint, executing at a really high level all the time,” Sumrall said. “What we're about to walk into in conference play, we will get absolutely embarrassed if we don't improve a ton.”
No sugar coating necessary. Just the facts.
ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC
No. 2 Georgia (2-0) 70, Western Kentucky (0-2) 20: Gunner Stockton completed 13-16 of his passes for 234 yards and five touchdowns while the Georgia defense held Western Kentucky to 225 total yards while forcing four turnovers.
No. 4 Texas (2-0) 24, No. 1 Ohio State (1-1) 23: The fourth quarter belonged to Arch Manning and Will Muschamp as Texas overcame a 23-3 deficit to stun the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes. Trailing 23-3, Manning led touchdown drives of 91, 72 and 73 yards, tying the game at 23-23 with 25 seconds remaining on a 1-yard run by Hollywood Smothers followed by the game-winning extra point by Gianni Spetic. Muschamp’s defense forced two three-and-outs, held Texas on a third-and-4, and then picked off a pass on the final play of the game.
No. 8 LSU (2-0) 45, Louisiana Tech (1-1) 14: LSU scored 35 second half points, overcoming four turnovers, three on interceptions thrown by quarterback Sam Leavitt. The LSU defense registered seven sacks, forced two fumbles and picked off a Louisiana Tech pass. Former Gator Eugene Wilson III caught six passes for 93 yards for LSU.
No. 9 Ole Miss (2-0) 41, Charlotte (0-2) 9: Trinidad Chambliss completed 23 of 26 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns while Kewain Lacey ran for 87 yards and two more scores to set up next week’s showdown with LSU in Oxford.
No. 10 Texas A&M (2-0) 48, Arizona State (1-1) 20: The Aggies were outgained 369-255 but the defense bailed them out with pick sixes by Marco Jones and Julio Humphrey. Marcel Reed threw three touchdown passes for A&M.
Michigan (2-0) 17, No. 11 Oklahoma (1-1) 10: An interception, a lost fumble and nine critical penalties cost Oklahoma a winnable game. The Oklahoma defense gave up only 263 yards and just one lengthy drive, but the offense was the Sooners’ undoing. Except for John Mateer scrambles, Oklahoma couldn’t run the football.
No. 12 Alabama (2-0, 1-0 SEC) 45, Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC) 17: Trailing 17-13 at the half, Alabama outscored Kentucky 32-0 in the second half to avoid the upset. Alabama managed only 343 yards, but the Crimson Tide defense held UK to 209 yards, just 63 on the ground.
No. 18 Tennessee (2-0) 45, Georgia Tech (0-2) 24: The Vols ran for 299 yards with DeSean Bishop gaining 147 and scoring two touchdowns on 20 carries. The Tennessee defense picked off two Georgia Tech passes while sacking he quarterback four times.
Mississippi State (2-0) 38, Minnesota (1-1) 13: Kamario Taylor threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns while running for 86 more for a road win against a Big Ten opponent. The Mississippi State defense held Minnesota to 13 rushing yards.
Vanderbilt (2-0) 35, Delaware (1-1) 26: Freshman Jared Curtis didn’t get the start but he had an impressive finish, throwing for 210 yards and a TD while running for two more scores. The Vandy defense had six sacks and two interceptions.
South Carolina (2-0) 45, Towson 9: It was ground and pound all game long for the Gamecocks, who ran for 405 yards, 125 from Matt Fuller and 118 by QB LaNorris Sellers.
No. 20 Utah (2-0) 43, Arkansas (1-1) 10: The Hogs railed 7-3 after one quarter. That was as close as it got for Arkansas, which struggled to stop Utah’s passing game led by Devon Dampier who threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns.
Auburn (2-0) 43, Southern Miss (1-1) 8: Auburn racked up 610 yards of offense, 343 on the ground to dominate Southern Miss. Byrum Brown threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns, plus ran for 88 more.
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