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Pat Dooley from The Tailgate on WRUF grades the Gators after their 49-7 win over McNeese State on Saturday night at The Swamp.
OFFENSE A-
First half: Clearly, Florida was going to go back to what we thought the Gators would be heading into the season. UF ran for 212 yards, picked up 20 first downs and had three different tailbacks score. Maybe more importantly, Florida only had one penalty.
Second half: Florida continued to do pretty much whatever it wanted in the second half scoring on every drive with the starters. Treyaun Webb scored his second touchdown of the game and Ricky Pearsall caught a 50-yard scoring pass. He also now has 14 catches in two games.
For the game: This was kind of the Gator team we hoped we might see. Graham Mertz managed the game beautifully and didn’t have to do too much (like throw 44 passes in the opener) and the running game dominated a bad team.
DEFENSE A-
First half: McNeese had some success on its first drive with the running game, but Florida was able to stuff the Cowboys the rest of the half. After the visitors gained 33 yards on that first possession, the Gators were able to limit McNeese to 18 yards the rest of the half and three yards total in the third quarter.
Second half: The defense kept playing well and even the backups were solid. The Gators even scored on defense with a safety recorded by redshirt freshman Jamari Lyons with a tackle in the end zone.
For the game: We didn’t have a problem with the defense in the first game. This was such a stifling performance that we were almost shocked when McNeese got a first down. Eddie Battle’s late fumble is the only reason it was not a shutout.
SPECIAL TEAMS C
First half: Well, we couldn’t have a game without a special team snafu. This time it was a high snap on the first extra point that Jeremy Crawshaw couldn’t snag, and Adam Mihalek had to track it down. Trey Smack did a good job on all of the kickoffs.
Second half: Special teams were not much of a factor as Florida finally punted for the first time in the fourth quarter. McNeese pretty much punted away from Florida’s return men.
For the game: You would like to have seen a clean game from the special teams and certainly expected something to happen there. You could argue that McNeese won the special teams because they downed two punts at the Florida 1-yard line.
OVERALL B+
McNeese is in a different area code than Florida, even as much as the Gators have struggled lately. But UF got what it needed, the end of a four-game losing streak and a chance to play just about everybody.
