The Ugly Wins Count The Same As The Pretty Ones

“Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” – From the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:7

By FRANZ BEARD

GATORBAIT MEDIA

In the end Saturday night, the very merciful Florida Gators were shown a bit of mercy by those same South Florida Bulls who in the final minute appeared to have an unlikely win or at least a shot at taking UF into overtime. Some might say 18th-ranked Florida’s 31-28 win over the Bulls was sheer luck, but merciful is probably a better term for it. In one of the many definitions offered for the word, this one seems rather appropriate: Relief from what would be an unpleasant situation.

Losing to the 24-point underdog Bulls would have been extremely unpleasant, especially with a trip to Tennessee next week. The Vols looked rather beastly in the way they slapped the Akron Zips around Neyland Stadium Saturday. The final score was 63-6 and it really didn’t seem that close. The week ahead for the Gators promises to be unpleasant enough no matter who they are playing because for the second straight week they have executed poorly. The difference in this week as opposed to last week’s 26-16 loss to Kentucky is South Florida made mistakes at the end of the game. Kentucky didn’t.

In the week ahead, the Gators have issues that must be dealt with. For the third straight game they came out flat in the third quarter. The Gators haven’t scored a point in the third quarter this year. For the second straight game, the Gators threw a pair of interceptions. Despite numerous opportunities, the Gators failed to sack the USF quarterback. Additionally, Florida gave up way too many explosive plays, allowed 286 rushing yards and was dominated by nearly 13 full minutes in time of possession.

Most of the time when you make those kind of mistakes you lose the game. The Gators were way too merciful. They gave the Bulls every opportunity to win the football game yet at the end, mercy was shown when South Florida botched two snaps just when it appeared they would either win the game or send it into overtime. The Bulls had a second-and-six at the Florida 19 with 44 seconds left, plenty enough time to get a couple of shots into the end zone except that center Brad Cecil one-hopped a shotgun snap between quarterback Gerry Bohannon and running back Brian Battie. By the time Battie ran the ball down and fell on it at the UF 33, the Bulls were looking at third-and-20 with just 34 ticks left on the clock.

Rather than risk a sack that would push them beyond Spencer Shrader’s field goal range, the Bulls sent Battie straight up the gut for a two-yard gain. Shrader, who had already hit from 49 yards, had a straight-on shot from 49 once again but any chance he had to send the game into overtime ended when long snapper Bryce Bernard delivered a low-and-away snap that holder Andrew Beardall couldn’t handle. The ball was practically sideways on the ground when Shrader kicked it low and wide to the right.

A clean snap on the second down play and the Bulls might have found the end zone for the win. A clean snap on the field goal attempt and Shrader might have drilled a second 49-yarder to send it to overtime.

Those who had been shown mercy were merciful and that allowed the Gators to have one of those wins that have become a microcosm of the three games they’ve played so far. The Utah win was good. The Kentucky loss last week was bad. The win over South Florida was ugly.

Ugly wins count the same as good ones and Florida coach Billy Napier wasn’t about to apologize for winning. He’s well aware that sometimes it’s necessary to find a way to win a game that has loss written all over it. Napier know it’s far better to win ugly than it is to be pretty.

“They [South Florida] made mistakes, we made mistakes,” Napier said post game. While that has the sound of coach-speak, there’s nothing untruthful about the statement and certainly, no attempt to dodge the issues. The Gators made more than their share of mistakes, but they made just enough good plays to score the win. During the game the Gators had their good moments, their bad ones and quite a few ugly ones.

So here are some highlights and some lowlights of how Florida came up with this improbable win.

The good: Montrell Johnson Jr. broke a 62-yard touchdown run off the left side in the second quarter that gave the Gators a 10-7 lead with 14:49 left in the half. Jalen Kimber picked off a Gerry Bohannon pass and ran it back 39 yards for a TD with 3:10 left in the half. In the fourth quarter with the Gators trailing 28-24, Tre’Vez Johnson came up with an interception at the USF 28. Trevor Etienne carried four straight times for three, 15, seven and the final three yards for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 5:05 to go.

The Gators ran for 217 yards with Johnson running for 103 and a TD on just six carries. Trevor Etienne had 56 yards and a TD on eight carries and Nay’Quan Wright had six carries for 37 yards and a TD. The Gators averaged 7.2 yards per carry on the night.

Although the Gators turned the ball over twice via interceptions, they finished plus-one in that category with two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

The bad: The Gators had USF in a third-and-18 at their own 23 in the first quarter when Battie took a handoff and ran it straight up the gut for 21 yards to the 44. Later in that same drive, the Bulls gained 23, 12 and 10 on consecutive plays with Battie getting into the end zone on the last carry. USF had second-and-22 at the Florida 43 in the second quarter but the Bulls were able to convert in two plays for a first down at the UF 35. That led to Shrader’s 49-yard field goal that cut the UF lead to 24-13 at the half.

On Florida’s first possession of the second half, the Bulls dropped seven into coverage on a third-and-eight from the UF 44. Richardson had what seemed an eternity to scan the field for an open receiver but he forced the ball deep across the middle. Linebacker Dwayne Boyles picked the pass off and ran it back 37 yards to the UF 18. Four plays later, the Bulls scored then added the two-point conversion to cut the margin to 24-21.

The ugly: Florida missed a bunch of tackles but the Bulls also gashed the Florida defensive front for holes big enough to drive a truck through. South Florida finished the night with 16 plays of 10 or more yards, six in the passing game, 10 in the running game. Those 10 big plays in the running game netted 179 of South Florida’s 286 rushing yards.

Some of Florida’s inability to make tackles could be attributed to the absence of middle linebacker Ventrell Miller. Redshirt freshman Scooby Williams and true freshman Shemar James made some plays but they weren’t nearly as effective plugging the run game as Miller, nor were they able to act as Florida’s traffic cops, getting everyone in the proper alignment pre-snap.

“I don’t think you replace Ventrell Miller, his leadership, ability to communicate and his production,” Napier said.

Florida got off only 48 offensive snaps. South Florida had 74. The Gators were only 3-for-8 on third down conversions while South Florida was 8-for-15.

For the second time in three games, the Gators didn’t register a single sack. The Gators had only four tackles for loss in the entire game.

Richardson was 7-for-9 for 75 yards throwing the ball in the first half. He was 3-for-9 for 37 yards in the second with 30 of those yards coming on a spectacular leaping catch by Justin Shorter. In the second half, the Bulls loaded the box with nine and then dropped seven into coverage any time Richardson looked to throw the ball. It was as if the Bulls were following the blueprint of the Kentucky defense the week before.

For the second straight week, Richardson threw a pair of interceptions. His second interception came with 7:50 to go in the game. With first-and-goal at the USF five, Richardson checked into a pass play and made a bad throw on a back shoulder fade intended for Shorter in the end zone. Aamaris Brown made the catch in the end zone and stepped out of bounds.

“It’s a run play with an individual cut option,” Napier explained. “They loaded the box up with one-on-one coverage over there. He made the decision to throw it. I have no issue with the decision to throw it. It’s how he threw it. He tried to throw a back shoulder fade when that wasn’t what it required. A simple play that has to be executed better.”

The Gators had opportunities to blow the game open, but they didn’t do it. They had opportunities to get stops defensively but they kept letting the Bulls make big plays and move the ball. They had opportunities to lose the game as well, but they didn’t do that, either.

That’s what is important to take away from this game. It was ugly but the Gators managed to pull out a win even when it seemed they were going to crash and burn there at the end. The botched snaps by South Florida were not caused by Florida’s relentless defense, but by the Bulls’ inability to execute two fundamental plays. The Gators get a win, but it’s safe to say it couldn’t have been done without South Florida’s contributions. Had the Gators lost the game we could say the same thing.

“We certainly did enough to win tonight, but we’ve got work to do,” Napier said. “Nobody has been hiding around that. I think each week we’ve stood up here and said ... ‘Hey, we’ve got work to do. We said it on Monday and on Wednesday the next week. I feel the same way. That’s what I’ve been saying.

“We’re 2-1 but we’ve got work to do. I think football is a sport and a team game where you are always a work in progress. If you’re undefeated and everyone is patting you on the back, then you’ve got work to do to resolve that. If you struggle a little bit and you found way to win, you’ve got issues to resolve that. The work is not going away.”

The season is now 25 percent in the books and here is what we know: The Gators are capable of beating most of the nine remaining teams on the schedule. They are also capable of losing to any one of the nine teams remaining on the schedule. We could be in for a roller coaster existence the rest of the way, up so high one week and down so low the next.

That’s what happens when you have holes to fill. Sometimes it is a smoke and mirrors existence. Sometimes you’re way too merciful, giving games away that should be won. Other times, like Saturday night against South Florida, it’s the other team that is merciful.