Gators Unable to Find Answers for Triple Option
Sunday, November 24, 2013 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The number is so astonishing, it deserves its own paragraph.
429
That's how many rushing yards Georgia Southern and its vaunted triple option accounted for in Saturday's 26-20 stunner at the “Swamp.” The Eagles rushed 54 times, averaging nearly 8 yards per carry, and attempted only three passes. They were each incomplete.
So 429 yards of offense, all on the ground, and the Eagles had complete and utter command of the line of scrimmage in sending the Gators to a sixth straight loss, assuring UF of its first losing season in 34 years, and ending any chance at a bowl game.
Triple option. Triple pain.
“When you play a team like that, you have to get them off rhythm,” UF coach Will Muschamp said. “That means you have to, No. 1, get stops defensively, get them behind the chain and create some negative plays. We tried to and got gapped out.”
The triple option is such a unique system -- which is why the service academies, presumably undermanned each week, all run it -- to prepare for. It requires disciplined, assignment football and if one defender is out of position or out of his gap, pop, there goes the back.
The Gators added to their mounting injury list when starting linebacker Mike Taylor left the game in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. At one point, UF's defense was sprinkled with reserves like linemen Joey Ivie, Bryan Cox and Alex McCalister, and walk-on senior David Campbell. Combined, they had three tackles this season coming into the game.
Talk about a test for the "Man Down, Man Up" motto.
The Eagles had 12 runs of at least 10 yards, including five of 20 or more, highlighted by blasts of 66 and 53 to set up touchdowns, plus a 45-yard scoring run.
The Gators knew what was coming -- a run of some kind -- but with pivots, unbalanced formation, pitches and keepers they had no clue where it was coming from or how to stop it.
“That's what they do,” Muschamp said. “They beat you to death.”
The Eagles have been doing it a long time. The came to town averaging 353 rushing yards per game. It's worth noting, though, GSU had been putting up those numbers in the Sun Belt Conference, triple-optioning the likes of Tennessee-Chattanooga, The Citadel and Western Carolina. The Eagles' three losses this season came against Wofford, Samford and Furman.
This was Florida. On the road. Georgia Southern was 0-20 all-time against FBS programs, hence the crazy celebration by the rowdy section of fans that made the trip from Statesboro, Ga.
“I'm so proud of our guys,” Georgia Southern coach Jeff Monken said after his program defeated an FBS program for the time in 21 tries and handed UF its first defeat to a FCS team since the two-division split in 1976. “They made memories that last forever and that's what playing college football is all about.”
Unfortunately for the Gators, ever-lasting memories work both ways.
“We're hurt and we're shocked,” senior linebacker Darrin Kitchens said.
The last time a UF team gave up that many rushing yards in a regular-season game was 1979. The number was 453 against an Alabama team that went 12-0 and was voted national champions.
That was also Florida's last losing season.
