CHAMPIONS AND AWARDS
After three consecutive losses and an overall lack of things to celebrate post-game, a tough win allowed Meyer to announce that 17 Gators had earned the designation of Champions after Saturday’s win over the Georgia Bulldogs.
Offensively, Meyer named redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey, freshman quarterback Trey Burton and redshirt sophomore WR Frankie Hammond, Jr. as his most valuable players along with senior center Mike Pouncey, redshirt junior QB John Brantley, redshirt senior guard Carl Johnson, redshirt junior WR Deonte Thompson, sophomore tight end Jordan Reed, redshirt senior tackle Marcus Gilbert, redshirt freshman guard Jon Halapio and redshirt junior fullback Steven Wilks as his champions. On the defensive side of the ball, junior safety Will Hill won the MVP award, while senior safety Ahmad Black, junior cornerback Janoris Jenkins, redshirt freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins, and senior defensive ends Justin Trattou and Duke Lemmens were champions.
The Southeastern Conference honored senior punter/kicker Chas Henry with its Co-Special Teams Player of the Week award and Burton with its Tri-Freshman of the Week award on Monday. Henry was 2-of-3 on his field goal attempts including a 37-yard game winner, and Burton rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown.
IMPROVEMENT IN FOUR DEFICIENT AREAS
One week ago, Meyer mentioned four particular areas in which Florida was struggling on offense and needed to drastically improve on in order to turn around the season. Here is how the Gators fared in those four areas against the Bulldogs:
1. Turnovers – 4-to-1 ratio with Brantley’s interception coming when sophomore WR Omarius Hines quit running a route.
2. Big plays – Florida had five against Georgia after none in the previous five games combined – a big turnaround.
3. Pass efficiency – UF’s quarterbacks were 30 points more efficient (120) than average.
4. Red zone efficiency – The Gators converted 5-of-6 red zone opportunities with a miscue coming on a missed field goal by Henry on the first offensive drive of the game.
OFFENSE REBOUNDS, DEFENSE CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE
While the offense spent two weeks of practice being retooled and streamlined, the defense’s goal during the bye week was figuring out how to get off the field on third down. Mississippi State ran the ball down Florida’s throats in its upset victory two weeks ago, and Georgia accomplished a similar feat through the air. Meyer was blunt when speaking about what had to be improved on that side of the ball.
“We’re not playing great defense. It’s just the way it is. We’re not and we have to improve,” he said. “Does that mean we didn’t have some great efforts? We certainly created turnovers and short fields, which our defense has done a decent job of all year. Back to compartmentalize – it’s third downs and red zone. We were 3-of-3 [in red zone scores] we gave up and third downs are not good.”
Asked if he will reevaluate the defense the same as he did the offense, Meyer responded: “I just don’t have time. I’ve never done that. These are the issues, get them cleaned up immediately. We have very good coaches. We just got to clean up a few things because at times we play outstanding defense. It’s getting off the field that has been a situation for us.”
GAME BALL TO MR. ANDREU
To begin his press conference, Meyer handed a game ball to long-time Gainesville Sun writer Robbie Andreu, whose father passed away in October. Today, Nov. 1, also happens to have been his father’s birthday.
QUOTES
Meyer on a special teams gaffe: “We allowed a kickoff return a the most critical time to pop out past the 50, which is something that absolutely cannot happen and will be exposed this week as well – [Vanderbilt] has a fine returner.”
Meyer on Hill: “Played his best football game as a Gator. […] He played well. Move on. Keep playing well. You can’t play good defense without a free safety.”
Meyer on the next game: “The urgency has not left this facility and left this team. We had a good day [Saturday], and we will move forward.”
Meyer on running the ball: “Right now to run the football in college, you need to do some kind of… It’s Oregon, it’s Missouri, it’s Auburn, it’s Florida in the past… You have to be creative to run the ball. Defenses are too good. […] You need to create explosive plays in the run game. I’m not saying it’s impossible, it’s just darn close not having the ability to get some athleticism at quarterback.”
Meyer on saying Georgia victory was his “greatest win:” “Greatest win. Of all time. History of the game. Absolutely. It’s big-picture. Big picture for the most important people – our players. Second most important people – our staff, support. The karma. The eating food that tastes good again. We had a victory meal last night, I think it was about 8:30 at night. I couldn’t tell ya – I have no idea what it was, but it was unbelievable. That’s why. That was a much-needed victory. And the way they did it. When Will Hill intercepted that ball and went 80-some yards – it was 70 people down in the end zone. We needed that as opposed to the dull… My gosh, after a while it’s just beating a dead horse. ‘Let’s get this thing going.’ And we did. And I think Steve [Addazio] and our offensive staff did a brilliant job with the tempo. You don’t have time to be a dullard now. So we’re going.”
Meyer on how the program felt after the last three losses: “It was miserable; however, the 22 other hours were miserable, the two hours [during practice] weren’t miserable because we had guys that weren’t resistive, weren’t defiant, and they were working. You got to take your hat off to guys like Mike Pouncey, Johnny, Trey Burton, Rainey, Demps and just seeing the energy out there – and Deonte. There’s no shortage of good dudes in this program. There might be a shortage of some other things, but there’s no shortage of that. The 22-hour miserable days were only made possible by that two hours of everybody on a mission to get a little better.”
Meyer on if Reed can and will throw: “Yeah, he can throw. Yes. Done. I’m giving you something maybe I shouldn’t give you. It’s in, it’s done and he will throw the ball next week. How’s that? Make sure they defend it.”
Meyer on the team being rejuvinated: “It’s amazing how fragile it is. We all know that we were a couple healthy runners maybe away from winning the third game. Not taking anything away from our opponent – the MSU game. If the ball bounces or, it’s just the game of college football is so fragile. And when you start dealing with noise, it becomes even more fragile. Obviously [winning] cures a lot of evils. It’s easy to be a great leader, great person and great worker when you’re hoisting the crystal ball. It’s somewhat difficult – and that’s why everybody’s made a little differently – when you’re getting hit right square in the mouth. Can you come back and go a little harder? The guys I’ve mentioned, the Champions right here, you can hit those guys square in the mouth and they’re going to come back for more and get a little better…which is kinda cool.”
Meyer on if freshman CB Cody Riggs is now a starter: “No. He played pretty good. He’s certainly in the rotation though.”
Meyer on if Burton playing a large role bothers Brantley: “I think he’s fine. Johnny’s one of those guys, he tells you how he feels and he likes to win games. […] I don’t see a problem, and I look for them.”
Meyer on if playing at Vanderbilt with a smaller crowd during the day is weird: “It is a concern because you know the team you’re playing is one of those teams that’s looking to getcha. And they got the talent to getcha. And they got that offense where they got an athletic quarterback. That’s uncomfortable. Last time was down at Ole Miss – that was bizarre – getting up at 6 a.m. and the whole deal. Nothing we can do about it, just gotta play our tails off.”
Meyer on a special teams gaffe: “We allowed a kickoff return a the most critical time to pop out past the 50, which is something that absolutely cannot happen and will be exposed this week as well – [Vanderbilt] has a fine returner.”
Meyer on Hill: “Played his best football game as a Gator. […] He played well. Move on. Keep playing well. You can’t play good defense without a free safety.”
Meyer on the next game: “The urgency has not left this facility and left this team. We had a good day [Saturday], and we will move forward.”
Meyer on running the ball: “Right now to run the football in college, you need to do some kind of… It’s Oregon, it’s Missouri, it’s Auburn, it’s Florida in the past… You have to be creative to run the ball. Defenses are too good. […] You need to create explosive plays in the run game. I’m not saying it’s impossible, it’s just darn close not having the ability to get some athleticism at quarterback.”
Meyer on saying Georgia victory was his “greatest win:” “Greatest win. Of all time. History of the game. Absolutely. It’s big-picture. Big picture for the most important people – our players. Second most important people – our staff, support. The karma. The eating food that tastes good again. We had a victory meal last night, I think it was about 8:30 at night. I couldn’t tell ya – I have no idea what it was, but it was unbelievable. That’s why. That was a much-needed victory. And the way they did it. When Will Hill intercepted that ball and went 80-some yards – it was 70 people down in the end zone. We needed that as opposed to the dull… My gosh, after a while it’s just beating a dead horse. ‘Let’s get this thing going.’ And we did. And I think Steve [Addazio] and our offensive staff did a brilliant job with the tempo. You don’t have time to be a dullard now. So we’re going.”
Meyer on how the program felt after the last three losses: “It was miserable; however, the 22 other hours were miserable, the two hours [during practice] weren’t miserable because we had guys that weren’t resistive, weren’t defiant, and they were working. You got to take your hat off to guys like Mike Pouncey, Johnny, Trey Burton, Rainey, Demps and just seeing the energy out there – and Deonte. There’s no shortage of good dudes in this program. There might be a shortage of some other things, but there’s no shortage of that. The 22-hour miserable days were only made possible by that two hours of everybody on a mission to get a little better.”
Meyer on if Reed can and will throw: “Yeah, he can throw. Yes. Done. I’m giving you something maybe I shouldn’t give you. It’s in, it’s done and he will throw the ball next week. How’s that? Make sure they defend it.”
Meyer on the team being rejuvinated: “It’s amazing how fragile it is. We all know that we were a couple healthy runners maybe away from winning the third game. Not taking anything away from our opponent – the MSU game. If the ball bounces or, it’s just the game of college football is so fragile. And when you start dealing with noise, it becomes even more fragile. Obviously [winning] cures a lot of evils. It’s easy to be a great leader, great person and great worker when you’re hoisting the crystal ball. It’s somewhat difficult – and that’s why everybody’s made a little differently – when you’re getting hit right square in the mouth. Can you come back and go a little harder? The guys I’ve mentioned, the Champions right here, you can hit those guys square in the mouth and they’re going to come back for more and get a little better…which is kinda cool.”
Meyer on if freshman CB Cody Riggs is now a starter: “No. He played pretty good. He’s certainly in the rotation though.”
Meyer on if Burton playing a large role bothers Brantley: “I think he’s fine. Johnny’s one of those guys, he tells you how he feels and he likes to win games. […] I don’t see a problem, and I look for them.”
Meyer on if playing at Vanderbilt with a smaller crowd during the day is weird: “It is a concern because you know the team you’re playing is one of those teams that’s looking to getcha. And they got the talent to getcha. And they got that offense where they got an athletic quarterback. That’s uncomfortable. Last time was down at Ole Miss – that was bizarre – getting up at 6 a.m. and the whole deal. Nothing we can do about it, just gotta play our tails off.”
