The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Gators Shorthanded-Loss to Oregon State

Analyzing the good, the bad and the ugly from Florida's blowout loss at the hands of the Oregon State Beavers in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday.

The Florida Gators' outing against the Oregon State Beavers ended a rollercoaster season for UF with a 27-point loss.

Failing to field a full team due to a plethora of departures prior to the bowl game, the Gators were entering behind the eight-ball against an opponent that was not only intact from their regular-season form but outperformed expectations on the year to join at 9-3.

As expected, the on-field result reflected the current standing of the two programs as they clashed in Las Vegas. The Gators fell 30-3 in disheartening fashion to head into the offseason with a poor taste in their mouth, looking for answers to overcome back-to-back 6-7 seasons while attempting to replace their starting quarterback, middle linebacker and an All-American on the offensive line.

For the final time in 2022, officially, All Gators examines the good, the bad and the ugly from the Gators' shorthanded, lopsided loss on Saturday.

Good: The streak of consecutive games with a score is still alive, barely

There wasn't much good to pull away from the Gators' defeat against Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Some may even argue that the one minuscule positive I pulled out to ensure consistency remained in this series is surrounded by negative connotations.

On Saturday, Florida nearly snapped a 435-game streak of scoring that spans back to 1988. It is the longest active streak in college football and the best stretch in college football history.

Trailing 30-0, approaching a minute to go in the fourth quarter, Florida began to sustain their most productive offense of the contest as Jack Miller III found open pass catchers downfield.

Connecting Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman near the numbers on the left side of the field, Miller helped push the Gators into legitimate scoring territory for the first time. Bowman took the ball inside the five-yard line before being stopped short of the goal line.

Despite the potential to break the seal on the scoreboard, UF went backward — a common occurrence throughout the contest — to face a fourth and goal from the 23.

Instead of going for it down 30, the Gators elected to kick the field goal and maintain their scoring streak. The move was criticized by fans who equated it to an on-field moral victory after a dreadful outing. However, the alternative was to go for it on 4th and 23, with a stagnant offense attack led by a quarterback having ups and downs in his first career start.

Keep in mind, Napier elected to go for it on 4th and 2 at the Oregon State 20 on the previous drive, and the Gators were stuffed for a loss and a turnover on downs.

Billy Napier elected to send out kicker Adam Mihalek to execute the kick to keep the Gators' streak alive at 435 games. He stuck by that decision in the postgame press conference.

"Yeah, I mean, what are the percentages of having success on fourth and that?" Napier pondered. "So, take the points, give Adam a chance to get some experience."

As a result, he gave us a sliver of good in a sea of bad and ugly from the 2022 season finale.

Killing the streak by attempting to go for an equally meaningless six points would have placed a permanent stain on the program's resume in year one under new leadership, under the assumption the unit wouldn't have converted. It wouldn't have. 

To avoid adding insult to injury during an already hard-to-swallow defeat to send the rebuilding unit into the offseason — no matter what your feelings are regarding the decision to kick the field goal in the final minute while down 30 — the right decision was made.

The game will always be remembered as a bad loss and an indictment of Florida's time of struggle. However, due to Mihalek's field goal with 37 seconds remaining, it doesn't have to also reign synonymous with the first time the Gators were held scoreless in 34 years.

That fact is good for Florida as the team moves forward.

Bad: Florida's Rushing Game

Heading into the contest, the top 15 rushing game in the nation was one area of the Gators' attack that was projected to boost the new-look offensive unit led by a first-time starter.

Instead, it was just another underperforming area of Florida's lackluster showing in the world's entertainment capital.

Montrell Johnson, a top-ten rusher in the SEC this season with 841 yards, led the team in rushing with just 14 yards on 11 carries. His partner-in-crime, Trevor Etienne — an equally dynamic rusher who showcased his explosiveness with 6.1 yards per carry (tied for No. 24 nationally) in his true freshman season — compiled 14 yards on eight carries to add to the 39 total yards produced by Florida in the contest.

While the backs struggled to find the holes in the line when they were there, and deserve some of the blame as a result, the lack of presence rushing the ball against the Beavers is an indictment of life with All-American right guard O'Cyrus Torrence.

At full strength, Florida flashed signs of being one of the most dominant rushing teams in all of college football. It showed the promise of establishing the type of offensive scheme Napier wants to instill at UF for the foreseeable future.

However, the unit stalled without Torrence and his expected replacement Richie Leonard in the mix. It failed to give the offense the spark it gave Anthony Richardson during his times of struggle. It failed to supply Miller with the sustainability and confidence he needed to command the offense in an efficient manner.

It, inevitably, resulted in Florida's painful season-ending defeat.

Like the overall performance, it wasn't the outing on the ground the Gators wanted to endure to end the season. Instead, it was quite the opposite. Even with a team that fielded a shell of its 2022 self, Florida's lone area of strength heading into the game was missing in action.

That drop in production, albeit against a hard-nosed Oregon State defense, furthered the idea that Florida will need to look for more than a mere game manager at quarterback to compete at the level it's expected to starting in Salt Lake City next September.

It also added doubt surrounding how the unit will fare in 2023 as a whole.

Ugly: From start to finish, the inconsistencies were consistent and limited team growth

While this encompasses the contest against Oregon State, the overarching aspect of Florida's inconsistent nature is a common theme for the unit throughout the season on the field.

From the season’s commencement, the Gators showcased their volatile nature with a monuments victory over No. 7 Utah. Performing at a supremely high level during that contest, led by Richardson’s excellence as a rusher from the quarterback position offensive and opportunistic defense, Florida rang in the Napier era with a resounding statement to the masses.

It shot them up from unranked to No. 12 in the AP Poll in week two.

Just as fans started to believe the Gators had an opportunity to yet again make a year one turnaround under a new regime — as the program had in the last two coaching changes, most recently going from 4-7 in 2017 to 10-3 in 2018 — UF turned around a laid a dud at home against Kentucky.

At that point, the Wildcats were considered by some to be a dark horse candidate to challenge the Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC East crown, even if it was a long shot (which it was). They were ranked in the top 25 and had a quarterback in Will Levis drawing buzz as a first-rounder in the upcoming NFL Draft.

The game brought solid defensive play and stagnant offense. At other points in the year, the dominant offense supported critically scrutinized defensive efforts. 

The fluctuation of the two units was a detriment to success. When one side of the ball clicked, the other rarely did. That was seen again on Saturday, as the only consistency was poor execution.

That’s not to say there haven’t been positives this season.

Some moments signaled potential growth. Namely, in Week 10, the Gators surged in the second half against Texas A&M defensively after weeks of poor outings. That sparked six straight quarters of shutting out opponents.

However, they relapsed in week 12 against Vanderbilt, squandering the steps they took against the Aggies and Gamecocks to present some of the same questions marks and issues down the stretch of the year and now into the offseason. 

That small example encompasses the tale of Florida’s season. One step forward, three steps back regarding their on-field progression.

The Gators will move into the offseason looking to reconcile their woes; however, in terms of emerging spots of encouragement, they have little to build off of.

You could’ve said the rushing game, but see above.

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