Right , I stated the double jersey # was the only thing that cost us and it's the one thing that overshadowed the special teams for the rest of the season. Can you think of another sp. Teams play that cost us in the game?
Refresh my memory, I only seem to remember that we couldn't tackle the rushing QB, we gave up 255 yards passing and 221 rushing, allowed 39 points and had to come back from a 14 pt deficit and down 4 late in the game. Trey Smack did miss a 44 yard FG, but that's not really something to harp on seeing as every kicker misses some at that distance. He was 3/4 on FG with a long of 47 and was 3/3 on extra pts. Our punter punted 6 tines for 299 yards forban avg pf 49.8 yards and dropped 3 inside the 20. There was some confusion at one point whether or not the kicking team was coming on or the offense was gonna go for it. There was certainly some stuff to clean up in this game on special teams but it boils down to we scored 36 pts, we won the turnover battle, missed 1 out of 7 kick attempts,(fg and ex. Pt.) avg nearly 50 yards per punt, only allowed 8.5 yds per opponent punt return, allowed only 23 yards per kick off return. Yet we gave up 39 points, allowed nearly 500 yards of offense, couldn't stop their rush in the 4th or get off the field. We were far from perfect last season but some don't realize just how much the poor defensive play affected all other aspects of the game. 36 pts should be enough to win a game, especially at home while riding a 6 game home winning streak. If we were able to hold mizzou, arky, and LSU to the point allowed avg. That even what the 50th ranked defense allowed (around 25 pts a game) we win those three games and we really aren't having these discussions.
I remember some near misses, but, no, I can't say for sure that another one definitively cost us a game. To be honest, isn't one dumb loss enough though? More could follow if the coordination issues aren't corrected this year. I hope they are.
The kick could have been the game winner and should have been from 39 yds. Check Smack's stats from less than 40 yds vs. over 40 yds if you think the distance was insignificant. The Keystone cops routine on the that play resulted in the loss of a bowl game and a losing season AND the perception (right or wrong) that UF's special team's was an unorganized mess almost 2 years into the current regime's tenure. Not a good look at all.
