Disappointing there. First half was a back and forth. We were scoring moving the ball consistently. I think we were up 24-20 at half. Had one stop we had. We had a big gain and got a penalty. Got behind the chains and got a third down we could almost hit. Our guys were really moving the ball. They were getting the running game going, had good balance. They got us in some single high stuff and put some pressure on the ends. And the safeties pulling on the quarterback. They did a good job getting him out. He got some nice runs in the game. We were able to keep good balance in the first half, in our play-action game. We were having efficient plays, no negative plays, not getting behind the sticks. Did a good job. Thought Haynes [King] managed the game really well. Made good throws, made good decisions. Had a third-down touchdown down there and moved the ball extremely well. Big drive before the half, being able to come back in two minutes and get down and get points before the half, was excellent. Played really well in that situation.
Coming out the second half, disappointing. We had a boot play that they covered and doubled. Got the guy booted. Maybe we could have scrambled for a couple yards. Then we got a negative run, a third and 9. They got some pressure. We had a chance down the middle. Underthrew it just a hair. They may have dove and made a great one. But if we had a chance on it, just didn't execute. But when they punted and got a little punt return, they come down and scored. Got momentum and got out of there. Then on offense, we come back and had two runs. We're trying to keep the run and balance because we had been running really good in the first half and just didn't get it. They got control of the line of scrimmage. Their inside guys are very big and strong. We knew that going in. We did a good job in the first half keeping them off balance with it, but they got us in a third-and-long situation. We didn't pick up a blitz on third down. They brought it and we had a guy for it, but just didn't get it picked up. Caused us to get off. Then they went back down and we got stopped. Then we had a really nice drive. Had a couple of passes and got to midfield. I thought had a great one-on-one down the sideline. Thought they tugged the heck out of them but, that's not for me to call. That's the same one we got called last week by [Tyreek] Chappell. That's part of it. They don't call it, they don't call it. They come down in the box and we had him. Threw a good back shoulder. He was finally coming back and got tugged. Just didn't get the call. Second down, we didn't get the run. Couldn't get it going there on second down. Third down, we had the ball right on our fingertips. That was a big drive, I thought. We could have got some points right there just off of Max's [Johnson] finger. We threw it right there off his fingertips, which is a very tough catch for him. Got to execute and, again, find the inches. Then they went down. We punted it, pinned them back, and they went down and got a drive. Then we come back and had a really nice drive and came back and had points right there. Just got beat on protection on the right side. It wasn't nothing they did. That would have put it back to a one-score game if we had a field goal. We had a nice drive, moved it back, had tempo in the game, got some things going in the game, got back in the rhythm. And then they took it and drove it, ate the clock up, missed a field goal. Then we drove there for a while and just couldn't get it going. Couldn't get the running game going. We got in the drop-back game, which was tough. They were able to run the football. That was the other thing. They were able to continue to run the football and move the clock. It's a shame. We had a chance to be right there and just didn't get it done.Â
Q. Coach, Devon [Achane] had such a big first half with over 100 yards carrying and then that third quarter only had the ball, I believe, three times on the carries. So what was Florida showing you that caused you --
We just couldn't get it. They weren't showing. They just got the blocks. They stymied us two or three times. Even on the RPOs that we threw, they put the extra guy in the box and we just didn't get them blocked. I mean, it was early. And we had a one-yard gain. I think the first three carries were a one, a two, and a one. And we were getting behind the chains on third down and drives. And they were scoring. They were scoring and got the momentum. We tried to keep driving it. We had RPOs to keep giving it to them, and we just couldn't get them moved in what we were trying to do. And inside they were winning some battles.Â
Q. Was [Devon] Achane at 100% today?
He didn't feel as good during the week and had some things go with him, but he's going to go play and play his tail off.
Q. Was there ever any consideration of calling time-out there after the turnover on downs when they had the ball deep?
There was. But we said we had to come back twice. When they got down there the first time, we could have but we just didn't. We didn't right there. Could have done it.Â
Q. Hey, Jimbo. How do you guys stop the bleeding because there's so much football left to play. It's tough.
There is. And they are, And our kids see it. We'll play hard and we'll practice hard. We've been doing that. And like I say, play these last three games. Got to get on the road against a very good Auburn -- tough Auburn play. Auburn is a tough place to play. Come back to UMass and LSU, get two home games and play for these seniors and play our tails off. And the character of these guys, they'll play. I know that. And we've just got to play. We've got to help them do a better job with them.Â
Q. Jimbo, do you all discourage your quarterbacks from running?Â
No.
Q. Because there was a couple of opportunities, it would seem like.
I will have to look at it and see. I'll look at it and see. I can't tell from the field sometimes what he had. That's something he usually does, and we don't ever -- we don't want him to get big hits, but we don't discourage him from running, no.Â
Q. Jimbo, this is another game that the defense has allowed over 200 yards rushing. Do you think of just losing a guy like Mike Elko and what he was able to bring to that front seven that maybe benefit has --Â
Well, we've still got some of the same schemes there and we've got some young guys playing the situation, and we've got to fit some things better, like I said. Schematically, it's good stuff, and we'll look at it and see. But DJ [Durkin] does a good job. He knows what we're doing. We know how we're doing it. And so, we'll keep working on it.
Q. At this point in the season, is it more so about you guys closing out on the right note for these seniors?Â
No doubt. You've got another game to play and you've got three games to play. Just keep playing hard and doing your things. Like I say, you can show your character right now. Like I say, these tough times build character and I think these guys will keep showing it. They've got character and playing hard.Â
Q. Coach, I know the last couple of ball games, it's been one play away. Today it wasn't. How much more disappointing is that?
Well, it was a couple of plays away, and right there, we got the points, we got the sack. And then the other sack, we had a guy wide open at midfield on in the other one. We got hit on that. You get back in the drop-back game and it gets to be a tough situation. We were right there in the one-play game, almost all the way through the third. We didn't move it in the third quarter and we didn't play bad. We were still there. Had points in that one and could have got back to 34 at least, 34-27 or 34-31 if we had gotten that third and seven. Unfortunately, we got the blitz -- not the blitz. They got us around the corner and caused the fumble. We had to try to throw it away. But it's there. It's not that far away, like I say. But they're always there. You just got to keep finding ways to make it.Â
Q. At what point, did you know Conner [Weigman] and guys like Kam [Dewberry] as well, but particularly Conner, wouldn't be able to go --
We didn't know till late -- we knew they got it early in the week. I mean, we had -- we didn't know who was going to play all the way through as far as back and forth. Some guys came back today, in the last day or so, depending on how it came. Some guys, it hit harder. Some guys, it hit easier. You know what I'm saying? We didn't know. We were trying to do piecemeal and do what we had all week.
Q. Kind of based on that and based on Conner's [Weigman] performance last week, how disappointing was it that he wasn't able?Â
Oh, it was very disappointing, because you want to keep the momentum and you want to keep him playing. He wants to stay hot and keep things going. There's no doubt. I love how he played. There was nobody more disappointed than he was. He would say, Coach, I want to play and then throw up. We had to keep him away, and it is what it is. Like I say, I thought Haynes [King] came in and did a nice job. He's been banged up, too, but I think he did a nice job in the game. Made some really good plays. Gave us a chance in the game.
Q. Jimbo, we were trying to do the math before the game, just how many guys were out -- injury, illness. Where does this kind of stack up on just the roster depletion you've had this year?Â
It's a bunch. You're talking about -- it's one of the worst I've had as far as that goes. [Fadil] Diggs will be out for the year. He's had an injury. And then there's a couple of other guys that. Deuce Harmon will be out for the year, just had surgery. A couple of other guys are banged and bruised. We're trying to see. We'll have to wait and see where they're at and what they're doing. Besides the sickness and the guys coming up out, that's neither here nor there. You got to play with the guys you got and we have plenty good players and we had plenty of opportunities today to do what we needed to do.
Q. Just how difficult is it to manage and piece together --
It can be that way from a communications standpoint, just because finally we were going to get the same line for a couple of games. And then Kam [Dewberry] gets it. He got it at the end of the week. It was towards the end of the week when he got it, really started feeling bad. But Mark [Nabou] came in and did some really nice things. Another good chance for a young freshman to play. He's going to be a really good player, too. It is what it is.Â
Q. Jimbo, how tough was it second half, you could have got the ball, could have extended the game. You always talk about last possession, first half versus second half.Â
It was disappointing. We got that drive in the first half. Went right down and got it. Come out, we had a boot play. And they changed the coverage and doubled it and slipped and could have made it so it wasn't there. Maybe could have gotten a couple on the scramble. But felt good about the runs we had, come back, and got a yard. Then got a third and nine and they got pressure. They could rush the pass. One thing they could do is rush, And they got some pressure on us. We had the third and longs. First half, we kept them more four and mediums to get the ball out quicker and do some different things. And we missed a blitz on the second one that we didn't pick up. It was disappointing. We felt good about the adjustments, felt good what we were doing. And we still feel like the things are there. We just got to look and see why they weren't, what we did do wrong exactly.A couple of runs. There was a kick we didn't get a down block on, a seal we've been running the first half really well. Just got to look and see where it was. Felt really good about it. Guys were in good place. What we were doing, thought we had a good plan coming back out. Got to execute and coach it better.Â
Q. Could you feel the momentum shifting their way late in the third quarter?
They did because they started getting control of the line of scrimmage a little bit. Being able to run the ball on offense and us not being able to do it. Putting your line in a tough situation because then you get in the dropback game. I don't care who it is, that's hard to do. Evan [Stewart] and Moose [Muhammad] caught some really nice balls, I thought. 42, Max [Wright] did a really nice job. Caught some really nice balls. Like I say, you want to get it to a chain as much as you humanly can, but go from there.Â
Q. So Moose [Muhammad] and Evan [Stewart], as you just mentioned, were the only two wide receivers to catch a pass today. Was that part of the game plan, or was that just something that kind of went down?
No, just the way it happened. Went down by the coverages or where it went to. We had balls called to other guys that could have went to other places. Tight end caught a bunch, didn't he? How many completes did he have? 23? 24? Could have been more than that then. Who else caught balls then? Max [Wright] caught five. Devon [Achane], used him. We always try to him in the pass game. We had balls called to the other guys, just didn't get there. Or reads took us backside, depending on how they played coverage.Â
Q. Coach, I know you're probably going to have to go back and look at it to get a true sense. But how would you evaluate just your impressions of the offensive line, especially with shuffling so many people once again?Â
I thought we did some real nice things, moved the football. We had 400 yards. We had 300 in the first half, if I'm not mistaken, in the drives we had. Had good balance and runs and had some guys nicked and knacked. But the line is getting better and better each week. I don't care who you are as an offensive line -- and we've got to execute on offense or whether we didn't get the run or why, we get in those third-down situations, quarterbacks are getting hit a lot, that's a hard -- I don't care who it is, pure pass situations, you've got to get the ball down the field, that can be very tough.Â
Q. When dealing with a mobile quarterback and some of the struggles y'all have had, do you feel like it's more schematic or more just in the players not --
Well, I have to look and see what it was this week. Last week we had a couple of guys that just got out of position or got their eyes in bad places and what we were trying to do. We'll look here and see. Some of it was on the run game, though. They had some of the run game, the quarterback run game, I believe, come out early on in the first half some. Scrambles, one big scramble I know that we had him and we lost contain -- there's one I think he scrambled and then he flipped the ball. We had that big stop right there, and he was able to make that. And we got out of the pocket. Then the guy had to come off the guy to make the tackle, and he got the flip play. I thought it was a big play in the game, big momentum play in the game going down there. We'll look and see. I can't answer that right now, but we've got to be disciplined in what we're doing and how we do.
Q. And Yulkeith [Brown] and Chase Lane, are those injuries or sickness?
Yulkeith is out for a while. He won't be with us for a while, will be unavailable. But Chase is an injury. He was banged. You saw he didn't come back in the second half of that game. I think Adarious [Jones] was out. LT [Overton] was out. Jardin Gilbert was out.Â
Q. And Yulkeith [Brown] is injury?
No. No, Yulkeith is not injury. But the others are. The others are all injury. And hopefully we'll get them back. I mean, it was just a string of that, plus, and then the flu hit and lost some other guys. So it didn't matter. We still had a chance.
