Neyland's Game Maxims Evaluation - Florida

Like there is ANY question on what the outcome of this evaluation will be? Gotta fight through the pain to keep the blog rolling. Maybe we'll get some attention.

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

This is pretty freaking clear - we allowed a fumble return for a TD, a punt return for a TD, threw an interception, had plenty of missed tackles and plenty of missed assignments. We made more mistakes in this game than every other Florida game this decade. So many mental mistakes. Oh, and the drops, too. Austin Rogers tried to catch a ball with one hand, when he had both hands available. FAIL

2. Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way - SCORE.

Berry made a break and DID score - a 96 yard INT return for a touchdown. We stopped Florida maybe 3 or 4 times, and we rarely did much with it. We created a muff return for Florida, but they recovered on their own 1 yard line and quickly went 99 yards to score a TD. FAIL

3. If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam.

We started to do this. Down 28-6, we started to make some things happen on offense, to pull it to 28-20, but a break went against us, and we quit. The players didn't quit so much, but the coaches did. You know, it ties in with playing green youngsters. Fulmer and Co. say this alot: "He'll make some good plays then 1 big mistake that gets you beat." Well, when down 30, we still saw the same piss poor players who got us down by 30. Why not try some new things with new players? There's nothing to lose when you're down 30. FAIL

4. Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.

I don't even know if this applies. Ainge had a clean jersey, our punters and kickers never got hit. Our lead? Never had one. Our ball game? We were at the mercy of Florida. It was their game, we were just livin' in it. FAIL

5. Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

Oskie was good. Everything else stunk. Seriously stunk. We didn't cover, we didn't block, we didn't tackle. On Florida's first 2 series, we looked excellent on defense. I thought we had a chance. But no. Our linebackers stink. Our ends stink. Our secondary, even Berry, stunk overall. When you do 1 of 6 outlined above, there is no WINNING EDGE. FAIL

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

Kickoffs were awful again. Florida started past their 30 a lot - I think all but one time. Colquitt was told to punt away from PR Brandon James ... he didn't. Lincoln was good, but they decided not to try him on a 47 yarder. FAIL

7. Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes.

Did we even BRING the fight to carry? Our defense started out with a fight. Our offense never did. For maybe 10 minutes of the 60, we looked we wanted to battle to the end of time. The other 50? Awful. Our coaches gave up in the 4th quarter, no doubt in my mind. FAIL

Obviously, this is the most embarrassing loss in the Fulmer era. Even more so when you consider what coaches and the team were saying in the preseason. They said they were nasty, they were cohesive, and they had leadership. I call shenanigans. Lies lies lies. This team is honestly worse than the 2005 squad. Absolutely horrendous, and changes need to be made from the top down. Enough is enough.

CHECK: 0
FAIL: 7