The Florida Gators Examine Snap Count Cadence, Focus and More After Kentucky Debacle
Updated: Oct 10, 2021
For Dan Mullen, the crux of the No. 20 Florida Gators issues last Saturday in a 20-13 loss to the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats came down to the penalties. There were 15 in all, for a loss of 115 yards. It’s unheard of, and was largely what led to the Gators falling.
“I don’t ever remember a game as a head coach where we've had 15 penalties in a game before,” noted Mullen on Monday. “You know, I've coached a bunch of games, so maybe there's one skipping my mind out there, but I don't think I've had one with that many penalties before, so that you know, that is disappointing for me.”
It’s not an excuse; it’s an indictment.
“It really is [disappointing] to me, and that—I take it personally, that’s on me, you know. It's my responsibility as the coach, with every one of us, and when you go perform, and you make the mistakes that we made.”
The majority of the penalties came in the form of false starts. There were eight total, called for 40-yards and often in incredibly crucial moments. False starts caused a third-and-short to become a third-and-long, negated rushing gains, wiped out a crucial fourth-down conversion in the redzone on the second to last drive of the game and kept the Gators just far enough back on two goal-to-go situations in the redzone at the end of the game when trying to tie for overtime.
While an entire game can’t swing on one single aspect—every player has to do their part every play—it’s hard not to acknowledge the impact the false starts had on the Gators, as Mullen explained.
“The second-to-last drive we're in the red zone, we convert, actually, a fourth-and-2 to go in to score a touchdown but there was a penalty. So that caused us to kick. And then the next drive, we're down inside the 5-yard line, there was a penalty.
“We had 15 penalties. That's on me. The penalties are on me, you know what I mean? It's my responsibility to make sure the discipline this team plays with and executes at a high level. But that’s,” Mullen couldn’t help but offer a humorless laugh. “I’d love to say it's more than that, but you go watch the film and it's pretty obvious.”
As for what caused all of the penalties, it was a number of factors. And as players explained this week, there’s something to be said for the fact this was the first true road game the offense has been in since 2019. No game last year had a crowd of greater than 20%, other than Texas A&M, which still featured a stadium that was over half empty.
The first four weeks of this season featured three home games (where the crowd is quiet for the home offense) and a road trip to Tampa that had a majority of Gator fans in the crowd. Lexington isn’t the Swamp, but with close to 62,000 in attendance and less than 10% of those in Gator gear, the atmosphere was still raucous.
“Once the bullets started flying some people got kind of flustered,” explained offensive lineman Stewart Reese. “That’s just part of the game. We have a lot of young guys and stuff like that. It’s just part of the experience for them being able to learn and move forward from this game we played this past Saturday and learn what they needed to learn.”
The Gators offense uses a clap cadence for their snap count, letting the center know when to snap the ball to quarterback Emory Jones. It requires a specific sequence of claps, accompanied by Jones’ voice, to give the signal for the snap. The clap cadence is used throughout football. It did not work for the Gators in a loud environment.
“I can be a lot louder. Part of that was my fault and my job, but we just have to go back to the drawing board and try to get better with that,” admitted Jones after the loss. “We weren't locked in on offense at all times and I mean it got to us at one part of the game. So we just have to go to the drawing board and get better with that.”
Whatever caused the issues with the snap count though are secondary to a larger issue…the Gators inability to adapt to the problem. While the clap cadence is popular, it’s not the only option. There is also a silent count that can be employed; a hand signal, a foot lift, a soft clap, sometimes moving under center to give a tap. But most of those require the center to look between his legs for the signal, then look back up and snap the ball. There is more room for error.
Yet, when an environment dictates, teams are known for switching counts…which isn’t as easy as it sounds.
“You can do it, yeah,” Mullen explained to GatorBait Magazine on Monday. “Obviously it's much easier said than done. There's a lot that goes into what we practice and how we do things so. But, you know, we're gonna continue to look at each one of the different scenarios and everything that happens and we'll go improve on it and coach it up and get it fixed.”
What would that mean though? And how many possibilities are there? In other words, how many different snap count options could the Gators carry into a game?
“Across different teams, people have more quantity of snap counts, maybe. But, I mean, I've seen all kinds, you know, numbers of snap counts. Words, letters, all kinds of stuff,” followed Reese. “I mean, there's really no end to the combination of snap counts that you can have on standby, or you know, a part of the offense, so, yeah I mean there's a bunch of different stuff you could do.”
As Mullen said though, it’s easier said than done. When you lean on one snap count the majority of the time, pulling out another in the middle of a game is like switching offensive schemes. Still, as Saturday showed, sometimes there is a need. Reese trusts Mullen and staff will adapt and make sure they have another crutch on which to lean moving forward.
“We try to simulate a lot of the situations that we’re going to be in pre-game, in practice and stuff like that. As far as the offseason go, I mean, we really just have to prepare. Because it's easy to say we're gonna go prepare in practice, but once you step out on the field, it’s a completely different atmosphere of just, you know, being able to go in and change a scheme or something.
“As far as snap counts go, I mean, we're pretty prepared for everything as far as snap counts. Going into that situation was a little tough, but I think we'll be ready next time, just being able to go in and, if the need comes up, just with snap counts. But I mean, Coach Mullen prepares us for, basically, any kind of situation, so I mean I don't think it will be hard to switch it up.”
Assured Mullen, “We look at everything, at each one, at every little issue that goes on there and we work to get those corrected.”
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