Florida running game carries Gators to strong 2019 finish against Virginia

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Well, another season is in the books as Florida capped off the 2019 campaign with a 36-28 win over Virginia.

The game wasn’t really as close as the score indicated. When Evan McPherson hit a 42-yard field goal with 2:42 remaining, gamblers who took the Gators as 14.5 point favorites were overjoyed. Of course, Bryce Petty then drove Virginia right down the field to ruin their joy almost immediately.

That was really the only drama in the game after Florida converted a fourth-and-1 and scored to widen its lead to 33-21.

Virginia did get to a point where an onsides kick recovery would have given the Cavaliers a chance. But Freddie Swain fittingly recovered the attempt and Florida won its 11th game of the year.

And they won in a way they haven’t won all season long.

Running Game

Florida had 244 yards rushing against Virginia.

That’s only the second time this season that Florida topped 200 yards rushing, the first coming against FCS opponent UT-Martin. It was only the fifth time Florida exceeded 150 yards rushing, the third if you exclude UT-Martin and Towson.

For a team that couldn’t run the ball all year, the Gators’ ability to run in this game is a really promising sign for next season.

Earlier in the season, the offensive line really struggled with basic things. One of those things was the guards being physical when they took on linebackers in a hole. Even one of Florida’s signature plays of the 2019 season showed this flaw.

On this play right guard Brett Heggie (#61) whiffs on the linebacker in the hole. Perine is able to shake the tackle by the linebacker and take it to the house, but this could have just as easily been a 2 or 3 yard gain.

Fast forward to Monday night against Virginia.

Yes, the corner slips to open things up for Perine here. And yes, the Virginia safety takes a bad angle turning a 20-yard run into a 65-yard touchdown.

But notice who takes on the linebacker in the hole. It’s Brett Heggie (#61) pulling across the formation. Not only does he take him on, he knocks him backwards. Even had the corner come up to make the tackle, it would have been a significant gain for Florida.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Virginia kept daring Florida to run the ball – especially in the first half – and Florida obliged and were successful with it.

Here Florida has a bunched formation with all nine players (everyone except Trask and Perine) at the line of scrimmage. But Virginia still has two safeties and a corner lined up deep (not in the picture). With a nine on eight advantage, Florida should win this up-front and the Gators do as Perine pops a big run to the outside.

Note the block by tight end Kyle Pitts (#84). Commentator Brian Griese didn’t seem to think Pitts was much of a blocker, but Pitts blocked really well in this game. He is starting to prove that he isn’t just a really big wide receiver.

But even when Virginia stacked the box, Florida was still able to run the ball.

This is what gets fans so excited about the potential of Emory Jones. Because of the threat of a Jones run, both the defensive end and the Virginia linebackers freeze. That’s a good thing because the Gators offensive line didn’t really get to the second level to take on those linebackers.

But because of Jones, Perine is able to get the edge past the linebackers and almost scores.

And Virginia had good reason to fear Jones.

Here’s a play where Virginia decided to dare Florida to run, with only five men in the box. Florida was more than happy to oblige as Jones ripped off a big run.

Florida fans seem confused that Mullen brings in Jones for a play here or there. But Virginia had been playing a nickel package on this drive to limit Trask’s throwing lanes. That package is going to really struggle against Jones.

Passing Game

Watching live, it really looked like Trask was struggling.

Certainly, there were plays where he just didn’t look like himself. He underthrew Van Jefferson on a ball that should have been picked. He threw an interception off of his back foot early in the game. It just didn’t look like there was very much zip on his throws.

But rewatching, you started to get an idea of why that might have been the case. For as good as the offensive line was running the ball, they were equally bad in pass protection.

Here’s what Trask saw on his interception. He throws to the right man. He just can’t get anything on it because center Nick Buchanan (#66) gets beat right up the middle and Trask takes a hit to his chest right as he releases the ball. It’s an outstanding play by the Virginia defensive back to make the INT. Normally this throw falls harmlessly to the ground.

That wasn’t the only time that Trask had to make a quick decision due to pressure.

Here Trask identifies that he has Freddie Swain (#16) in one-on-one coverage against linebacker Nick Jackson (#42). It’s a good thing it was a slant because defensive end Richard Burney (#16) comes free after a stunt and gets to Trask immediately.

Without knowing the play call for the offensive line, it’s impossible to say who’s at fault here. It looks really bad for right tackle Jean Delance (#56) but he comes off of the Virginia defensive end to block a blitzing corner. You wouldn’t typically do that unless the scheme calls for you to pick up that blitz.

Regardless, Florida really struggled against the Virginia defensive line. The Cavaliers did a good job of changing up stunts, faking stunts and bringing blitzes to confuse the Gators. Trask was under pressure a lot.

Dan Mullen went pretty deep into his playbook to counter the pass rush. I mean, when’s the last time you can remember Florida running a traditional screen pass?

Florida ran this at least twice in the game. I can’t remember them running it all season long. It’s effective against a strong pass rush because it allows all the defensive players to get up field while the offensive line leaks out to block for the running back.

This – along with the running game cited above – started to give Trask a little bit of room to work, particularly on first down.

On this play the linebackers come up to stop the run. Trask is under center and this has typically been a running formation for Florida this year. The result is Van Jefferson open on a crossing route against a safety. Trask throws a beautiful pass (while under pressure) for a big gain.

This isn’t to say that Trask was fantastic on Monday. He struggled at times to do things he’s done in the past.

But he also added value with his legs, running for 37 yards on eight carries. That offset a somewhat inefficient night passing, resulting in a yards above replacement (YAR) of 0.61, well above average.

Gators Defense

There was quite a bit of consternation (at least on Twitter) about the Florida defense and the scheme called by Todd Grantham.

In my preview, I said that Virginia would try to hit big plays deep, RPOs over the middle to the tight end/H-back and jump balls to wide receivers. Well, the Gators went 0-3 as Bryce Perkins hit a 34-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Jana following the Trask interception, scored on a jump ball to Hasise Dubois and hit a 52-yard pass on a RPO to tight end Tanner Cowley.

But that was also pretty much it for the Cavaliers.

After the pass to Dubois, Florida turned a 14-14 tie into a 27-14 lead. That coincided with Virginia punting on five straight drives and gaining 51 yards on 22 plays (2.3 yards per play).

The Gators went into halftime with a 342-135 yardage advantage. Prior to the Cowley reception to end the third quarter, the Gators had a 413-162 advantage.

This isn’t new for this Florida defense, as it has been Jekyll and Hyde all season long. They absolutely shut down Miami and Kentucky for stretches after not being able to get off the field for long stretches. They weren’t able to get off the field against Georgia or LSU in either of those games. It’s also a defense that held five different opponents under six points and posted three shutouts.

Sometimes the inconsistency comes from mental errors.

This is the RPO to Cowley. Somehow, I doubt that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham called a cover-zero defense on a first down up by 13-points heading into the fourth quarter. Yet, safety Jeawon Taylor (#29) crashes to stop the run while safety Donovan Stiner (#13) does not rotate over to cover the middle of the field, appearing to be expecting some sort of swing screen to his side of the field.

The result is that Virginia has Cowley isolated on linebacker James Houston (#41). Houston is beaten badly, but he has an expectation of help that never comes.

Sometimes the inconsistency comes from physical errors.

On the throw to Jana that set up the last gasp touchdown for Virginia, both Taylor and Stiner were lined up deep and had Jana essentially triple-teamed with Amari Burney. But Jana was the player who came down with the ball even though he was surrounded. Everyone was in the right place, they just didn’t make a play on the ball.

I’m not a huge fan of Grantham. But to blame this on him is misguided.

You might criticize him for having these safeties in the game when they continue to make mistakes, but the reality is that the other guys have made similar mistakes as well. Perkins missed a handful of deep throws in the game and rest assured, Taylor and Stiner weren’t the only safeties in coverage on those plays.

Instead, what we’re seeing is four players who all have strengths and all have flaws. There isn’t a Sean Taylor or Reggie Nelson to put out there right now. That’s only going to be solved through recruiting or seeing a major jump in productivity from one of the guys currently splitting playing time.

There’s a reason the current 2020 recruiting class has seven defensive back commits, four of whom are 4-star recruits.

Regardless, this defense has the bones of an elite unit. When the smoke clears, they are likely going to be somewhere around 25-30th in yards per play allowed. That’s a good defense, but not an elite one.

That seems about right.

Takeaway

The Orange Bowl victory gives Florida it’s 11th on the season. That’s significant for a bunch of reasons.

First, there is the perception factor after reaching that milestone on Miami’s home field.

Miami is moving on to a new offensive coordinator with Dan Enos fired after being shut-out by Louisiana Tech. And after its loss to Arizona State in the Tony the Tiger Bowl (lol), Florida State now has 11 wins in 2018 and 2019 combined. FSU is moving on to a new coach in Mike Norvell.

The state is never going to be this open for Mullen again. If kids closer to Tallahassee and Miami than Gainesville start committing to Florida for the 2021 class, you’ll know he’s been able to turn a corner in recruiting.

Second is the historical significance.

The .846 winning percentage in 2019 is tied for the 7th highest in Florida history behind three 13-1 seasons for Urban Meyer, two 12-1 seasons from Steve Spurrier and an 8-1 season in 1928 under Charlie Bachman.

Lots will be made of the two straight New Years Six bowl wins and deservedly so. But more than that is that if Mullen can take one more step, he’s going to be mentioned in the same breath with the best seasons under Meyer (finished ranked 1, 1, 3) and the two best under Spurrier (finished 2 and 1).

Finally, Mullen now has a winning percentage of .808 in his time at Florida.

The question coming from Mississippi State was whether Mullen was a good coach or an elite one. Well, here’s a list of some recent coaches who have made the transition from lower-tier Power-5 programs to higher-tier and how they fared at their next stop.

Mullen tops a list that has some pretty big names on it. Obviously the biggest name on the list is Nick Saban, but Les Miles and Mack Brown have national championships at their second stops.

The risk in hiring Mullen was that he would be Petrino or Charlie Strong. That has absolutely not been the case. If you want confidence that Mullen is going to bring championships to Gainesville, I think this is your best evidence.

So while the Orange Bowl win over Virginia may have been anticlimactic to Florida fans who watched Oklahoma get obliterated and wanted another shot at LSU, the reality is that the program is on an upward trajectory. There is an energy surrounding the program that hasn’t been present since the 2010 season.

As we move into 2020, that’s all this Florida fan could have asked for.

Featured image by Will Miles/Read and Reaction (All rights reserved)