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Big Picture: Does Florida's upset of Georgia save Will Muschamp?
The biggest stunner from the weekend wasn't just that Florida beat No. 11 Georgia, 38-20. It was how the embattled Gators dominated the Dawgs, out-rushing UGA 418-148. After the first quarter, UF had outgained Georgia 274-27. For the day, Florida had 14 rushes of 10 yards or more, which was more than half of what UF had in its first six games.
To say the game unfolded as UF offensive coordinator Kurt Roper expected would be quite a stretch.
Roper told FOX Sports Sunday afternoon that UF had some play-action and moving-pocket stuff planned for the Dawgs, but with the way UF was running the football, relying on a heavy diet of zone runs coming amid a bunch of window dressing (via formation and motions), he realized he had a “don't fix it till it breaks” approach. In all, UF ran 66 plays and only four of them were called passes: two nakeds, one dropback and another bubble (true freshman QB Treon Harris actually threw two other passes but those came off run plays).
"I just figured we'd keep it in our pocket till we needed it," said Roper, who came to UF after an impressive run under David Cutcliffe at Duke, having groomed three different 3,000-yard passers. He said Saturday's romp reminded him of a game they had last season when Duke mauled Miami, rushing for 358 yards. Against Georgia, Kelvin Taylor ran for 197 yards while Matt Jones ran for 192, and the bruising tandem combined for four rushing TDs.
The unsung stars for UF Saturday, Roper said, were the receivers who really blocked well on the perimeter and played with great effort the whole game. Another key has been the strong play of Florida center Max Garcia.
"He's a special football player," Roper said. "He has a great understanding of what we're doing and physically, he's really talented. He can reach people. His hands are so quick. He had five knockdowns in the game."
In Jones and Taylor, the Gators have two similar-styled big, physical backs. Jones probably has a little better ball skills as a receiver/route runner while Taylor is more elusive. "His change of direction is amazing," said Roper. "His short-area quickness, like in a phone booth, is as good as I've seen."
The focal point for the Gators, though, in this tumultuous season has been their challenges at QB. Talented junior Jeff Driskel, who has excellent physical tools, has struggled this season and also has been hampered by some back issues, while throwing six TDs against 10 INTs. So UF has gone to the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Harris, a kid with a pretty good arm and good feet who has responded well.
"I have a lot of belief in Jeff -- he's very physically gifted but we needed a spark," Roper told FOX Sports, adding that Driskel has proven to be a great teammate and helper to Harris, with tips for the young QB and for the rest of the players on offense about where they need to be on the field or eyeing the alignment of, say, a cornerback as a certain indicator of something that may be coming.
"Treon is one of those guys who just has something to him," said Roper. "He's really calm and poised, and when he comes over to the sideline he's able to communicate what he's seen and what the defense was doing." Harris also impressed his coach with how he ran the Gators’ four-minute offense. "Sometimes there's a lot of panic in that, but not with him."
The win over Georgia, a double-digit favorite, doesn't get Will Muschamp off the hot seat, but it certainly is a big step to enabling him to keep his job after this season. UF travels to Vandy this weekend before a struggling South Carolina team visits, which is followed by a game at Eastern Kentucky.
Suddenly, a 7-3 mark heading into the finale against Florida State seems very realistic. Even if they lose to the defending national champs and finish the regular season 7-4, that might be enough to buy Muschamp more time. Lord knows the Gators are playing hard for him. Just ask Muschamp's old team from Athens.
MY FOX FOUR TOP 10
After some interesting games, I made a few tweaks to my FOX Four ballot.
1. Florida State: Jimbo Fisher's squad was on the ropes at No. 25 Louisville but got some big plays from a bunch of true freshmen to rally, and to me their performance in Week 10 was better than what MSU showed. Also I give the Noles credit for their non-conference schedule, especially compared to the Bulldogs’.
2. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs struggled at home with a mediocre Arkansas team that hasn't won an SEC game in ages. They do have three wins over "top-10" teams, although A&M is nowhere close to looking like a top-10 team now. Also, MSU's non-conference is woeful.
3. Oregon: Marcus Mariota and the Ducks smashed Stanford, 45-16, and their wins at UCLA and against Michigan State, both by double-digits, look good.
4. Auburn: The 15-point loss at MSU hurts, but they do have a pair of terrific road wins now, at K-State and at Ole Miss. Plus, blowing out LSU helps.
5. TCU: I'm moving the Horned Frogs up a lot here and bumped them ahead of Bama. They've just proven more this year. They both have wins over WVU and while Bama's was by more points, TCU's happened in Morgantown. Both have a road loss that I'd say came against legit top-10 teams and wins against ranked opponents that have plummeted (A&M and Oklahoma State). But TCU also has a nice win over OU. Advantage: Horned Frogs.
6. Alabama: Sit tight, Tide fans. Your team will get more of a chance to prove itself starting this week. So far they whiffed on their biggest test: at Ole Miss.
7. Michigan State: I've slid the Spartans above ND. MSU was off while ND was really shaky against Navy. It also doesn't help the Irish's cause that their best W – Stanford -- looks less impressive with the Cardinal losing again.
8. Notre Dame: The Irish are going to need a lot of help, but at least ASU won Saturday night to give ND a better shot to puff up its resume.
9. Kansas State: Bill Snyder's team has won five in a row after losing by a TD to Auburn. They have only one win over a ranked opponent, but it was at OU.
10. Baylor: I thought about including ASU here, but the Sun Devils got routed so bad at home by UCLA, I couldn't put them above the Bears, who despite an awful non-conference schedule do have a good win over TCU.
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE, VOLS
One of the most intriguing teams in college football is Tennessee. The Vols are ridiculously young, but there's been a lot of reasons for optimism since they're recruiting so well. The biggest question mark UT has had for the near future in my mind is: Who would be the triggerman to lead this team forward?
In the last two weeks, though, they seem to have gotten their answer in sophomore Josh Dobbs, the aerospace engineering whiz. Last week, Dobbs put a scare in Alabama after coming off the bench. This past weekend, he tore up the South Carolina D on the road to lead the Vols to a nice win, throwing for over 300 yards and running for over 160 more. Led by Dobbs, UT had 344 rushing yards, their most against an SEC opponent in 20 years.
"Josh has really stepped up, and the kids have really rallied around him," head coach Butch Jones told FOX Sports Sunday. Jones was particularly impressed by the poise and presence the sophomore displayed piloting the Vols’ one-minute offense when Dobbs rattled off nine plays without any timeouts. "We executed it flawlessly with no panic," he said.
Dobbs, whose academic work is jaw-dropping, seems to have made dramatic improvement in his game last season when he started late in the year as a true freshman. Jones says the biggest change is due to the kid's confidence surge.
"Confidence is an amazing thing," the coach said. "He's just been so decisive and assertive and aggressive. He's added another dynamic to our offense (with Dobbs' mobility), and that's really helped since we have such a young offensive line. He also gives us flexibility in our play-calling. Josh has been able to make us right when we're wrong."
That boost in confidence and in decisiveness has made a kid who probably runs around a 4.8 40 seem like a 4.55 guy as he attacks defenses. The next step for Dobbs, Jones says, is learning how to protect himself when he runs the ball to avoid as many heavy shots as possible.
The 45-42 overtime win was actually the Vols’ first road win on a plane trip (outside of the states of Tennessee or Kentucky) since 2007.
KAEPERNICK HAS COMPANY
Quietly Saturday night, there was a significant milestone reached by Nevada QB Cody Fajardo, who joined former Wolf Pack star Colin Kaepernick as the only other college player ever to pass for 9,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards in a career.
"It's rarified air," said Nevada coach Brian Polian, who admitted he was upset that more people weren't talking about what Fajardo had accomplished.
For context of what Fajardo accomplished, consider that Tim Tebow in four seasons at UF fell short of the 3000-yard rushing barrier (2,947); Nebraska's Eric Crouch didn't even get halfway to the passing mark (4,481 yards); Baylor's Robert Griffin III missed by over 800 rushing yards (2,199); and NIU's Jordan Lynch fell almost 3,000 yards shy in the passing part (6,209).
Polian -- a former assistant coach at Stanford, Notre Dame and Texas A&M -- said the 6-2, 210-pound Fajardo would start for "a lot of" Power 5 conference programs. "He's incredibly productive as a thrower and a runner,” Polian said. “He is absolutely an NFL prospect. His football IQ is very high, and his intangibles are off the charts. He throws it much better than people think, and he will run sub 4.6 at the combine, and I'd be shocked if he didn't get an invite. I think the NFL people are starting to catch on. We've had 20-24 clubs come in to see him."
Fajardo is leading a very young squad that is putting together a strong second season for Polian after his 4-8 debut. Nevada is 6-3 with a very realistic shot at 9-3 -- at the very least 8-4 -- with the way the remaining schedule sets up. The Pack starts three redshirt freshmen on the O-line and running back James Butler, who ran for over 100 yards in the win Saturday night against San Diego State, is a true freshman.
THIS WEEK’S HEISMAN TOP FIVE
1. Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon Ducks
2. Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State Bulldogs
3. Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin Badgers (more on him in a few minutes)
4. Duke Johnson, RB, Miami Hurricanes
5. Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama Crimson Tide
Johnson, the versatile Miami star, has made a big move in the past few weeks. He’s averaging 197 all-purpose yards (rushing and receiving) in the past six games, as the young Canes offense has begun to heat up. Johnson has a puncher's chance to get to New York, especially if he can have a big game when FSU visits UM Nov. 15.
AIR FORCE RETURNS TO FLIGHT
Air Force wrapped up the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy this weekend by winning at Army. The Falcons have had quite a bounce-back season from last year's nightmarish 2-10 record. They're 6-2 with a two-touchdown win over Boise State already. It's been back to business as usual for Troy Calhoun, who had lead AFA to bowl games every year he's been the head coach in Colorado Springs except for last year, which was quite fluky when you consider the team not only had to play four different QBs but also four different nose tackles. The biggest difference for Air Force this season?
"We've been able to stay healthy," says Calhoun, noting that can be a tricky proposition when you're almost always the smaller team, evoking the example of when a Mack truck collides with a Volkswagen. Keep in mind Air Force doesn't have a starter on its O-line who even weighs 275 pounds.
QB Kale Pearson, who tore his ACL at the start of last season, has been terrific for the Falcons. "He's literally 5-8, 170, but he's really sharp," Calhoun told FOX Sports Sunday. "His dad is a high school coach. He's just a tough nut. He can really improvise. He throws it really well. We take a good number of shots down the field."
Pearson has a solid 9-2 TD-INT ratio this season and has run for 411 yards and four more TDs.
THE SCOOBY WATCH
Following up on our item last week on Arizona star LB Scooby Wright, who didn't have another scholarship offer from any Pac-12 program other than the Wildcats and was told by one league school that he simply wasn't good enough. Well, don't blame the sophomore tackling-machine for Arizona’s loss at UCLA. Wright had 19 tackles, 4.5 TFLs and three sacks.
In five Pac-12 games, Wright has 15.5 TFLs, nine sacks, five forced fumbles and 64 tackles. The race for the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year is going to be interesting. Wright, as you can see, is putting up insane numbers. USC junior Leonard Williams may be the most disruptive D-lineman in the league, while Washington’s Hau'oli Kikaha leads the nation in sacks (15.5) and TFLs (21.5).
ARKANSAS’ DUBIOUS HONOR
Hearing a lot of chatter about how good of a bad team Arkansas is got me thinking about who the best winless (in conference) Power 5 teams are. There are seven. I'd put Arkansas No. 1 followed by Colorado at No. 2. Iowa State, which beat Iowa, would be No. 3, then Indiana at No. 4 (they did win at Mizzou but injuries have hobbled Kevin Wilson's team since). Then it gets really dicey: Vandy No. 5, Wake Forest No. 6 and Kansas No. 7.
HAT TIP FOR TEMPLE
Hats off to Temple coach Matt Rhule who, after going 2-10 last season, has led the Owls to a 5-3 record and pulled his best win of the season in Week 10 by upsetting East Carolina. It was Temple’s first win against a Top 25 team since 1998. His Owls benefitted from ECU fumbling five times. The Owls lead the nation in most forced fumbles per game at 1.88 and have also scored six defensive TDs, including one against ECU.
STAT OF THE WEEK, TAKE I
Melvin Gordon was at it again Saturday. The Wisconsin star broke off another long run to spark the Badgers’ in the second half. Against Rutgers, Gordon popped a 51-yard gain -- his fourth run of 50-plus yards on his first carry of the second half in seven games against FBS opponents this season. Gordon is averaging a ridiculous 40 yards a carry on his first rush of the second half.
STAT OF THE WEEK, TAKE II
The Carolina teams are three of the four most inept teams in the country at defending fourth-down plays. North and East Carolina are both ranked No. 125, allowing opponents to convert at 83.3 percent. The only team worse: South Carolina at 90 percent inefficiency. The other struggling team is New Mexico State, also at No. 125.
Bruce Feldman is a senior college football reporter and columnist for FOXSports.com and FOX Sports 1. He is also a New York Times Bestselling author. His new book, The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks, came out in October, 2014. Follow him on Twitter @BruceFeldmanCFB.
