The game I watched wasnt subjective. Tebow was very conservative and it wasnt "all" because of your D. No if he didnt have a concussion many different plays would have been designed than those which he ran and he would have been much more aggressive like he usually is. By the way I respected your D twice in my comments.
The problem with that theory is that the score is the only stat that matters. They don't award W's based on who won time of possession or who had the most first downs.
Without a doubt, Florida's offense was clearly superior to LSU's, etc. But in the end, the points are what count. LSU was in the game late into the 4th. And LSU's D gets tougher the closer you get to their end zone. I didn't feel we were out of it while I was sitting there until under four minutes were left despite any statistical advantage. Hell, we were only down 10-3 going into the 4th and we had the ball. In 2007, we were down by 10 going into the 4th. They didn't get any real big plays on us and we didn't get any real big ones on them. So it was close basically the whole way. Our D killed themselves in spots and possibly could have ended some of those drives a lot sooner but they had the killer penalties. That affected things for sure. The TD pass had the biggest impact and even that should have really been called back. But it probably wouldn't have mattered because our offensive gameplan and use of talent was bad and Florida's D was great (and their running game was solid). Yeah, he could have passed, but it didn't work out for him the previous time he tried it with under five minutes to go because we picked it. Look, I don't think that a team is really running up the score when they're only up by 10 and trying to score again. I didn't say he tried to "run up" the score. I was just trying to say that I don't think he had any thoughts about showing respect to our D because they played hard.
And I'm not suggesting that they do. And as I said elsewhere the Gators O game plan was as plain and vanilla as they come. Was it to protect Tebow? Perhaps. I'm more inclined to believe CUM knew we couldn't score on his D.
Look our defense did what our defense has done this year. They bend, they don't break. They did make some dumb offside penalties, and chad jones had a dumb facemask penalty, but overall, i thought they did a great job against the best college quarterback ever, the best offensive line in the nation, and some really fast and shifty backs. When they had to make a play they did. Florida looked like Florida to me, they looked a little conservative at first, but if you are reserved about him getting hit, you aren't running the option, you aren't calling number 15 on third and short because all that dude knows how to do is duck his big ass head and lunge forward. We still need to get pressure with our front 4, that is a must, and we ned to get better from their 1 to our 30. offensively i just don't know. i see what cripp is talking about it does seem that there is something going on when plays are changed at the line. To me, if we would have run the offense that Florida ran against us, mixing Shep in, we would have won that game.
you know that may be part of the problem. the D has been improving and you could say they are good now, but this bend but dont break gives their O tons of plays and our O relatively few. this is particularly a problem when the O has a green qb. he needs those reps to improve. i wonder what the O would have looked like against UGA and UF had the D played aggressive all season.
I don't think the defense has anything to do with the way the Offense is playing other than field position. If the O cannot move the ball then they are going to have the defense on the field longer, if the defense cant stop people from moving the ball, the only negative effect that would have on the offense is field position and maybe dictate the play calling, but only if you are giving up alot of points. Field position might dictate the playcalling, but it seems we are still emptying the backfield deep in our own territory. Its really strange because the big problem the coaching staff talked about with JJ last year was his limited knowledge of the playbook, but all of the sudden this season he knows enough to go 5 wide with no blocking help 15 to 20 plays a game. The defense did everything possible to keep LSU in that game and only giving up 13 points should have been plenty to come out with a Victory.
my point was that the bend but dont break D gives the O fewer opportunities to get better because the opponent's O eats up the clock.
Conversely, the D stays off the field and the opponent can't get the ball back to score if the offense maintains some ball control.
My thought is that JJ should have sat (stood next to Coach Miles) for a series in both halfs. I think it may have helped him to see the game from a different perspective. It might have calmed him down. He had happy feet and wasn't set when throwing the ball at times. He needs to learn he has 3 seconds to deliver the ball, especially in passing situations. The D played great; however, stupid penalties.
