Zooked Again!

You knew it would happen. It was just a matter of when. A Ron Zook coached team always finds a way to lose a sure thing.

I was on the phone with my dad when Florida was deep inside the Volunteer five yard line with a seven point lead late in the third quarter. I told him that I was still sure the Gators would lose the game. They are too young and as I said before, they are a Ron Zook coached football team. A missed field goal later and a 14 play, 80 yard Tennessee drive and we were tied at 21 with thirteen minutes left in the game.

Then it got fun...

A great kickoff pinned the Gators at the Florida six-yard line. Three plays later Gator quarterback Chris Leak launched one of his looping throws to Chad Jackson. As it was in the air, it looked like a sure interception. The Vol safety couldn't get his full hand on the ball and just batted it back up for Jackson who took off for an 81 yard touchdown. The Gators went up 28-21 and it was starting to look like victory was back within reach of Florida with only 7:42 left on the clock.

The Volunteers had other ideas.

Freshman quarterback Erik Ainge led Tennessee on an 80-yard drive and a controversial score with 3:25 left in the game. The Vols converted two 3rd and nine's and a four and six on the drive. The touchdown itself was a third and eight. Ainge hit Jason Swain over the middle and he ran it in but appeared to be down just short of the end zone. The official said he was in and the score was 28-27, pending the extra point. For the first time in his collegiate career, James Wilhoit missed an extra point and the Volunteers looked like they had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (or at least a tie and overtime).

Wilhoit kicked off into the end zone and the Gators just had to run 3:25 off the clock. That meant just two first downs.. Florida quarterback Chris Leak, who had a magnificent game, came out and threw a nine yard pass on first down. Ciatrick Fason then carried over the right side for a two yard run and a first down. Next, DeShawn Wynn took the first down carry for six yards.

Then Zook took over.

Scenario: You have second down and four. You need to run 1:55 off the clock. Your opponent has one timeout. In a nutshell, you need to convert this one first down, then kneel down and the game is over. What do you call? Off-tackle? Sweep? Maybe get outrageous and call a bootleg? Nope. Not if your Ron Zook. If you're Ron Zook, you run it right up the middle. Twice. Net gain? Zero yards and a fourth down with 55 seconds left in the game.

Unbelievable. The Gators last three plays were DeShawn Wynn up the middle. How's that for offensive genius? That is why Zook will never be even a good head coach.

Adding insult to injury was the single worst official's call I have seen in a long time. It looked a whole lot like cheating to be honest. I'm not sure, but I think it might have been the same guy that called the touchdown for Jason Swain. On the third down play, a Gator receiver and a Volunteer defensive back were battling on the other side of the field from the handoff up the middle to Wynn. The side judge was watching all of this and the camera was watching both players and the official. The Tennessee defensive back slapped the Florida receiver on the face mask and the official did nothing. The Florida player retaliated in exactly the same way and BANG!... the yellow hanky comes flying in. Now this was not a case of the official only seeing the retaliation as happens quite a bit. The camera caught the official just watching the first offense and do nothing and then immediately throw a flag when the Gator player responded in exactly the same manner.

Not Zook's fault, admittedly, but if there had been better play calling, they would not have been in that position. I am sure there will be some sort of sanction for the official and I wouldn't be surprised if that is his last game as an official. That is what I would do as commissioner. There is no excuse for how that played out.

Those 15 yards on the personal foul penalty and the time that did not run off of the clock were crucial, it turns out.

Ainge completed two passes for 28 yards to put Wilhoit in a position to win the game with a 50 yard field with 13 seconds left. (Neither of those numbers, 50 yard field goal and 13 seconds left would have been possible without the penalty). He was true and the game was over on the kickoff. I won't even go into the Gator defense on the last Tennessee possession. Miserable.

Zook's offseason changes for the offense worked very well. Leak looked wonderful and the offense clicked and were sound in their execution the whole game. New offensive coordinator Ron Fedora called a beautiful game. That is how I am sure he did not call those last two plays. Those had to come from Zook.

Zook has shown time and time again that he is not the game time difference maker that a coach needs to be. On the contrary, his decisions are often hurdles that the Gator team has to overcome. A team this young will not be able to do that as well as his previous 8-5 teams. We will see if their talent, which is obviously very high, will be enough to overcome their coach. I am still guessing at another 8-5 for the Gators.