Missed opportunities, mistakes in loss to Alabama offer lessons for Florida
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- They would probably prefer to burn the game film and toss the ashes into the ocean, never to be seen again.
But after a 42-21 loss to No. 3-ranked Alabama on Saturday, in a game many observers thought the Gators could win and make a statement they were back among the SEC's elite, they harped on their need to study film and correct mistakes.
There's a lot to watch.
"Guys are really upset," center Max Garcia said. "We had a lot of opportunities and didn't capitalize. We're frustrated by that, but all we can do is go back and look at the tape and see what happened."
Quarterback Jeff Driskel, after completing only 9 of 28 passes for 93 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, had that tape on his mind, too.
"We were in it early. We played hard. It was never a matter of not playing hard or not wanting it," Driskel said. "We just didn't make it happen. We are going to have to clean some things up, learn from the tape and move forward. We're not going to hang our heads. There's a lot of football left to play."
Gators head coach Will Muschamp was confident his team could hang with Alabama. And Florida did for a while.
Still, after losing to his mentor Nick Saban for the second time as a head coach, Muschamp and his staff undoubtedly have some work to do before they face Tennessee in two weeks.
The Gators had more breakdowns in the secondary. They couldn't move the ball consistently. The best things they did all day were create turnovers and watch Kyle Christy boom seven punts.
That's not enough to beat Alabama in front of more than 101,000 fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"You can't do that against a good football team," Muschamp said. "We couldn't stay on the field [offensively]. We couldn't get off the field defensively. As the game wore on, we just wore down."
The Gators scored all their points off turnovers and led 14-7 in the second quarter after safety Keanu Neal picked up a fumble caused by linebacker Neiron Ball and raced 49 yards to the end zone.
Soon afterward, the second communication breakdown in the secondary allowed Amari Cooper to streak wide open down the middle of the field for a 79-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Blake Sims.
Sims hit running back Kenyan Drake for an 87-yard touchdown pass on Alabama's first play from scrimmage when the Gators were in a bad matchup.
Despite the mistakes and inability of Driskel to move the offense effectively, his 14-yard run with 5:27 left in the third quarter tied the game 21-21.
The Gators had a chance. And then, poof!
"Momentum is big," junior defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard said. "We had it for a little bit and then we lost it."
Alabama strung together two long scoring drives in the third quarter and added another score in the fourth as the Crimson Tide rolled up 645 yards, the most ever allowed by a Florida defense.
As Driskel struggled, Sims threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns.
The Gators were a dejected group as they gathered their belongings in the locker room and prepared to leave for home.
Sophomore linebacker Jarrad Davis did his part to make sure the Gators left the loss in Alabama and not have it linger later into the season.
"I feel like a lot of guys were down and it kind of reminded me a little bit of last year," Davis said. "That's why I made sure I went around and said, 'Hey, this is a ride. Every ride is not going to be smooth. There are going to be bumps in the road.' That's what I tried to reiterate to them."
That message is likely to be shared by Muschamp and others in the coming days.
The Gators have a bye week at a perfect time. While Driskel and the revamped offense racked up an average of 593.5 yards a game in back-to-back wins over Eastern Michigan and Kentucky, Florida managed only 200 yards Saturday.
"We've got to go back and evaluate where we are," Muschamp said. "Jeff gives us the best opportunity right now. For us to win a football game like that, Jeff Driskel needs to play. When we move forward, we need to play better at that position and a bunch of other positions. We'll evaluate that."
To avoid more losses down the road, the Gators must play much better than they did in their fourth consecutive loss to Alabama dating to the 2009 SEC Championship Game.
They can watch tape, run plays over and over in practice, and figure out what they did wrong Saturday.
Eventually, they must make more plays.
"We need to stay the course right now," Muschamp said. "That's a good football team, but we have a good football team too. We still have everything sitting out in front of us. We did not have the execution we needed offensively."
