2011 Florida Football: Grading the Gators vs. Furman

In the days leading up to Florida's game with Furman, I wrote about how the contest could serve as an opportunity for Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett to have an early audition for the 2012 quarterback job (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/945744-florida-gators-football-will-the-furman-game-serve-as-a-quarterback-audition).

As Lee Corso might say... "Not so fast, my friend."

The Paladins actually led 15-0 in the first quarter and 22-7 in the second, creating an uneasy feeling in the Gator Nation.

However, UF stormed back, and in the end came away with a 52-34 victory in front of 84,674 in The Swamp.

The proposed audition never came off, unless we are talking about starting quarterback John Brantley showcasing himself for NFL scouts.

The senior from nearby Ocala finished the afternoon 16-of-28 for 329 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. If he can come anywhere close to the same numbers next week against Florida State, the Gators should be in good shape.

As for Driskel and Brissett...well, they combined for all of five snaps, all by Brissett. And if handing the ball off four times and taking a knee are prerequisites for the job, he's got a head start.

All of that said, here are the grades for the Furman game.

Quarterbacks

Senior John Brantley had a nice day, completing 16-of-28 passes for 329 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. But perhaps the best news for the Gators was that he was not sacked, meaning he probably won't be any more knicked up than he already is when Florida State visits The Swamp next Saturday night.

Eight different players made receptions for Florida, and the wide receivers were more a part of the passing game than they have been all season.

Brantley also got to show off his arm a bit, completing touchdown passes of 80 and 64 yards to fleet wideout Andre Debose.

Grade: A-

Running Backs

It was a quiet afternoon for the Gator running backs (31 carries for 124 yards, a 4.0 ypc average), save for Chris Rainey.

The senior from prep powerhouse Lakeland (Fla.) High School finished the game with 15 carries for 90 yards (6.0 ypc) with no touchdowns. He had a long run of 37 yards and also caught a 10-yard pass from Brantley.

Since rushing for more than 100 yards against Vanderbilt, the fastest player in college football, Jeff Demps, hasn't done much.

Against the Paladins, he carried eight times for 20 yards (2.5 ypc) with a long of just five. Demps also had two receptions for seven yards.

Mike Gillislee did well with limited work, carrying twice for 15 yards (7.5 ypc). The same could be said of true freshman fullback Hunter Joyer, who had three rushes for seven yards and a touchdown. His 2.3 yards-per-carry is relatively irrelevant because his work primarily came near the goal line.

Versatile sophomore Trey Burton had one rush for seven yards and also caught a pass for the loss of a yard.

Grade: C

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

The receivers were given the chance to show off a bit on Saturday, and they came through.

Andre Debose, a tantalizing talent who has yet to really break through, caught three passes for a game-high 151 yards. Included in that total were touchdown receptions of 80 and 64 yards.

Quinton Dunbar hauled in a pair of receptions for 54 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. Senior Deonte Thompson added two catches for 45 yards.

One negative for the wideouts was a holding call against Omarius Hines.

As has been the case pretty much all season, tight end Jordan Reed was Brantley's favorite target. The former quarterback caught four passes for 56 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown that finally got UF on the board with 4:27 remaining in the first quarter.

Reed's backup, true freshman A.C. Leonard, caught a 7-yard pass.

Grade: A-

Offensive Line

The biggest item for these guys is that Brantley's jersey stayed clean.

Still not 100 percent healthy after injuring his ankle in the first half against Alabama on Oct. 1, Brantley was not sacked by Furman.

The running game never really got going and Gator backs combined for only 124 yards.

Something very notable is that Florida's offensive line was not flagged once all afternoon. Not for holding. Not for a false start. Not at all.

Grade: B

Defensive Line

Furman had a very, very good day on the ground, rushing for 223 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 45 carries (5.2 ypc).

Leading the way was Jerodis Williams, who ran for a game-high 135 yards on 19 carries (7.0 ypc). Included in that were touchdown runs of one yard and 77 yards.

So, the Paladins' rushing success is (primarily) on the defensive line and linebackers.

On the positive side, senior Jaye Howard continued his strong play with five tackles, including sharing a sack with William Green (one tackle), and a quarterback hurry.

Sophomore Sharrif Floyd finished with four tackles, sharing a tackle-for-loss with Howard. Dominique Easley added three tackles, while Omar Hunter and Leon Orr had two each. Ronald Powell and Earl Okine had one tackle apiece.

Grade: C-

Linebackers

As mentioned when grading the defensive line, Furman had a big day on the ground, rushing for 233 yards with a pair of touchdowns on 45 carries.

The linebackers hold some responsibility there, just as they do in the passing game, where the Paladins completed 15-of-27 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

That said, Darrin Kitchens finished with a game- and career-high 12 tackles, one of which was for the loss of half a yard. And the star of the linebacking corps was Jelani Jenkins.

He recorded 10 tackles, forced a fumble and took an interception 75 yards for a touchdown with four minutes remaining in the contest.

Jon Bostic had a modest four tackles, but he also broke up a pass and had a game-best two quarterback hurries. Michael Taylor also added a tackle.

Grade: B-

Secondary

The Paladins had surprising success against Florida through the air, completing 15-of-27 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions (one of which was by a defensive back).

In fairness to the Gators, they are now without starting cornerback Marcus Roberson, who is expected to miss the rest of the season with an injury.

Leading the way for UF was true freshman safety Pop Saunders, who intercepted a pass for the second straight game. He took this one 25 yards for his first career touchdown early in the fourth quarter. He also had two tackles, including one for loss.

Cornerback Cody Riggs finished with five tackles, including one for loss, and a pass break-up.

Jaylen Watkins added four tackles (and also was flagged for pass interference), as did true freshman Loucheiz Purifoy. And safety Matt Elam finished with three tackles, one for loss.

Grade: C+

Special Teams

Kicker Caleb Sturgis was only 2-for-4 on field goals, but the misses were from 51 and 40 yards and the makes were from 43 and 55 yards (tying a season-long). The senior from St. Augustine has yet to miss from inside 40 yards and he also was 6-for-6 on extra points.

And get this, he also had two tackles.

Defensive lineman Dominique Easley blocked a punt and true freshman Kyle Christy had quite possibly his best game as a Gator.

The Brownsburg, Ind. native averaged 44.7 yards on three punts with a long of 48. Two of his kicks were downed inside the 20.

Andre Debose also had 72 kickoff return yards.

There wasn't much bad, but the kick coverage team didn't have its best performance.

Furman's Sederrik Cunningham finished the day with 170 kickoff return yards, while Hank McCloud added 71.

Florida had just negative-1 punt return yards, but the Paladins had just one themselves.

Grade: B

Coaching

Falling behind 15-0 and 22-7, obviously, the Gators did not open the game well.

But where does the blame for that go, with the coaches or players? Because that's a debatable topic, we'll include that in the next slide (intangibles).

In all, the offensive game plan was pretty sound with the wide receivers getting more work than they have all season. The special teams played well, too.

The defense allowed 446 yards and 20 first downs (UF has just 19) to Furman, so that wasn't good.

A so-so overall day for the coaching staff. Look for a better outing next week with the Florida State Seminoles coming to town.

Grade: C+

Intangibles

As noted previously, the Gators started poorly against an overmatched team.

They fell behind 15-0 and 22-7 before storming back to win by 22 points. But, no doubt an "intangible" is playing as well at the start of a game as you do in the middle and end.

Florida was penalized only six times for 60 yards, and it did not turn the ball over (while producing a pair of pick-6s on defense).

Grade: C+