There Was Plenty Of Blame To Be Shared

By FRANZ BEARD

GatorBaitMedia.com

The slings and arrows were already being fired from every corner of Gator Nation by the time Anthony Richardson stood rather quietly in front of the microphone in the South End Zone. No one had to tell him he had played poorly, but others contributed to 12th-ranked Florida’s 26-16 loss to 20th-ranked Kentucky at The Swamp.

As he quietly, politely, answered the questions from the media, not once did Richardson offer up an excuse. He put the blame for Florida’s loss solely and completely on his broad shoulders.

A week ago, Richardson was the toast of college football, streaking across the sky like a meteor after he put the Gators on his back, leading them to a 29-26 win over then 7th-ranked Utah. When there were plays to be made against the Utes, Richardson made them.

Opportunities were few against Kentucky. The Wildcats structured their entire game plan around stopping Richardson. If someone was going to beat them, it would have to be someone not wearing No. 15 in orange and blue. They stacked the box to stuff the run, spied Richardson to keep him from getting loose outside the pocket and they bracketed Ricky Pearsall. Richardson wasn’t the only one the Wildcats were determined wouldn’t beat them.

It is a strategy that almost backfired. There were three dropped passes in the first half. Richardson had several overthrows of wide open receivers. If the receivers make those catches or two or three of Richardson’s high hard ones had made their way into the hands of receivers who had no trouble finding holes in the middle of the field in the first half, it could have been a far different outcome.

But, it wasn’t to be. Not on this night.

As the game wore on, Kentucky adjusted its secondary. The openings that were there in the first half weren’t there nearly as often. Richardson admitted that the deeper it got into the game, the more he was pressing .

“At times I did try to push it a little bit,” Richardson said softly. “Try to aim so I could complete some stuff. I guess that hurt my game as well.”

He aimed. He fired. He misfired. He was 14-35 throwing the ball for only 143 yards. He threw two interceptions, one that was run back to the Florida five with 2:47 to go in the first half that breathed life into the Wildcats just when it seemed the Gators were going to break the game open in spite of several missed chances. Kentucky went from zero momentum and down 16-7 to a 16-13 halftime deficit.

“The first one, I didn't get enough depth on my naked [bootleg]," Richardson said. "I thought I could get it off in the end but I didn't want to throw it over the top because he was a long player. So, I tried to side-arm it and he just made a great play on that one, so shoutout to him.”

Attribute the second interception to Richardson trying to gun the ball to a receiver on a 12-yard out route. Keidron Smith jumped the route and took it to the house, giving Kentucky a 23-16 lead that the Wildcats never relinquished.

That one was far too similar to the pick six Richardson threw against Georgia last year.

“The second one, flashback to the Georgia game,” Richardson said. “I just threw it right to the dude.”

Those were the two critical mistakes everyone will point to as the reason the twitterverse was alive with disparaging remarks about Richardson’s play. Certainly, if he could have those throws back, he would gladly try something else. File that under coulda, woulda and shoulda.

There are no do-overs in football, that is, unless the zebras intervene as they did following the first of Richard’s two interceptions. The Wildcats had second-and-goal at the Florida five when Trey Dean III blitzed from the left side, forcing Will Levis to throw incomplete, but center judge Tom Fimmen flagged Dean for roughing the passer. Levis was outside the tackle box running for his life when Dean tackled him around his legs. It was a football play but Fimmen made a phantom call. Rather than third-and-goal The Wildcats got a gift first down at the UF two. Two plays later Will Levis scored the TD that cut Florida’s lead to 16-13.

The way the Florida defense was playing, there is every good possibility the Gators would have held the Wildcats to a field goal attempt. That was a monumental shift in momentum that carried over to the third quarter and the entire second half.

And yet, in spite of Kentucky having all that momentum, the Gators still had chances to pull this one out.

“We gave them a pick six and a short field after an interception,” Florida head coach Billy Napier said. “Two touchdowns in the game. Ultimately, it’s hard to win when you do that. It’s a tribute to the team that you have an opportunity to win the game and overcome those things.”

Napier didn’t mention the jump ball that accounted for Kentucky’s first touchdown. It was a 55-yard heave from Levis to Dane Key at the goal line early in the second quarter when the Gators held a 3-0 lead. Key and Florida corner Jalen Kimber went up for the ball simultaneously. Key had control of the ball going down, but even though replays showed the ball on the grass, the replay booth ruled that Key had possession.

So, a jump ball for a TD that could have been picked if Kimber was a little stronger or perhaps could jump an inch higher, a short field TD aided by a ridiculous roughing the passer penalty and a pick six. Plus, there was a Kentucky field goal with 1:24 to go in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach (26-16). That one was UK’s response to the Gators going for it on fourth-and-six at their own 24 with 4:02 left, a decision Napier made because he was unsure if the Gators would get the ball back if they punted the ball away.

There were opportunities for the Gators to win this game in spite of themselves. It’s far too easy to point fingers at Richardson. He didn’t play at the same level he played at a week ago when he was on fire against Utah. His mistakes were costly, but he heaped too much responsibility on himself for the loss.

As he stood at the microphone, he would only blame himself.

“I feel like I let everybody down, especially the defense because I looked everybody on the defense in the eyes and I told them that I've got them but obviously I didn't,” Richardson said. “I turned the ball over twice, three times, I fumbled the ball once. So, tough loss, I've got to play better for the team and the university."

Yes, he does have to play better if the Gators are to win games against quality opponents, and make no mistake about it, Kentucky is a quality opponent. Give the Wildcats their due. They had a good game plan, stuck with it even when the Gators had opportunities to run away with it early on when receivers were running free in the secondary, and they made the right adjustments in the second half. Those open shots that were there in the first half weren't there in the second. The second half opportunities were fewer and much farther between.

Florida lost the game but pinning the blame on Anthony Richardson isn’t the right thing to do. That's something Napier was quick to acknowledge in his post-game remarks.

“Anthony can do things better,” Napier said. “That starts with me. I think part of coaching is putting your players in position where they can have success. We made mistakes tonight. Anthony made mistakes. I made mistakes. That’s the beautiful thing about the game of football. It requires hundreds of people to have success, but hundreds of people contribute when you don’t maybe get the results that you want. I think sometimes the quarterback position will get that spotlight put on ya. Reality is, there’s things around you that can be done better, that contribute to quarterback play.”

Things like better pass protection. Things like receivers hanging on to the ball. Things like the right play calls at the right time. The list goes on but those are the kind of things that will have to be ironed out in practice.

The Gators played well enough to win last week against Utah and Utah probably looks back on that game with the same woulda, coulda, shoulda that Florida fans are seeing after losing to Kentucky. The Gators played inconsistently Saturday night against Kentucky, yet for all their flaws, mistakes and imperfections, a play here, a play there and the Gators probably win. If that had happened, it would be Kentucky fans talking about the bad punt snap that gave the Gators a safety or the bad snap on the missed extra point or the hooked field goal in the fourth quarter.

Kentucky, you see, made its share of mistakes, too. The difference in the game was Florida’s mistakes were more glaring and consequential. The timing of the big mistakes couldn't have been worse.

That’s hardly consolation for Anthony Richardson. All during the week there were quotes from scouts and observers that he was a genuine first rounder in the next NFL Draft. Sure, if he played like he did against Utah. No way if he plays like he did against Kentucky.

We tend to forget this was just his third start as a collegiate quarterback, all three against ranked opponents. He hasn't had a chance to get comfortable as a starter in paycheck games against outmatched opponents. He isn’t polished. He isn’t consistent. The tools are all there to be exceptional if he ever harnesses all the aspects of the game that bring out greatness.

Richardson is talented and conscientious enough that he will go to work starting today to do his best to get a little bit better. Next week he will have a chance to put improvement on full display at The Swamp when South Florida comes to Gainesville.

As naturally gifted as he is, there are probably going to be games like Utah in the future. What has to be avoided are more games like Kentucky. That will come with maturity and experience.

For one night, at least, Richardson will spend far too much time reliving every mistake, every overthrow, every missed read. Napier says Richardson is his own toughest critic. It showed in the way he spoke to the media after the game. Had he chosen, he could have ducked out and who could have blamed him, but he chose to own it.

“I feel like I took a step back from the Utah win and I shot myself in the foot this game,” Richardson said. “Just got to grind a little harder. Just trying to pick my teammates up. Everybody’s counting on me, and I’m definitely counting on them.”

It is a team game after all, and it requires everyone counting on each other. Billy Napier says the counting starts at the top with the head coach, trickles down to the assistant coaches and throughout the organization. If things go wrong – and they did far too frequently – the first place Napier said he will look is in the mirror.

“I think when you are in a leadership position and things are not going the way they should go or you want them to go you’ve got to take ownership of that,” Napier said. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. That’s the coach’s job to put the players in position to have success. We did that at times tonight and we can help them a little more, but we’ll evaluate the film. I think execution comes down to coaching. We didn’t execute very well at times tonight. We had a lot of opportunities there we missed early in particular but as the game went you got to call it for what it is, you can do better.”

Yes, the Gators can do better. It’s too early to call this a defining loss. We’ll see in the days and weeks to come how the Gators deal with the adversity of losing. A week ago, they kept coming back from adversity to score a win over Utah. Now, they have to deal with a loss in which there was opportunity to come back from adversity. How they respond will go a long way toward determining what kind of season they will have going forward.