College Football
Upon Further Review: Why Florida’s fake field goal was so incredible
By Drew Laing
Published:
Down 7-0 midway through the second quarter, the Florida Gators were right where everyone expected them to be against the No. 11 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.
Nick Chubb looked unstoppable and the Gators’ offense failed to capitalize on another offensive drive, setting up a 39-yard field goal attempt in blustery conditions.
And then everything changed.
Why was this play so incredible? Here are three simple reasons.
- Uncle Mo finally swings in Gators’ direction — The concept of momentum had completely disappeared from the Florida Gators in the past few games. LSU took it all away when Tevin Westbrook dropped the go-ahead touchdown late in the game. Missouri gave Florida absolutely no chance at any momentum when Marcus Murphy returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Tigers scored 42 unanswered points. But Saturday, it was this fake field goal by the Gators that flipped the script. A touchdown when everyone least expected it and the Florida sideline loved it as you can see at the end of the video. Suddenly, the orange and blue had life again and it showed — the Gators went on to score 31 unanswered points.
- Wait, who scored the touchdown?! — Who did the Gators call on to execute arguably the biggest play of their season? A 5-foot-8, 176-pound former walk-on wide receiver Michael McNeely. Oh yeah, did we mention he works at Publix when he’s not playing football? All season, Florida has been looking for a spark and the Gators finally got what they were looking for ironically from one of the team’s most unlikely candidates. Head coach Will Muschamp explained later he had no reservations about McNeely running the football despite his lack of playing time. But for most of Gator Nation, McNeely was a nobody and now he’s somewhat of a folk hero in Gainesville.
- Special teams unit needed something positive — The Gators’ special teams unit had a disastrous performance against Missouri two weeks ago. Return coverage was practically non-existent as the Tigers took back a kickoff and a punt return for touchdowns. Frankie Velez also had a PAT blocked. So against Georgia, the Gators needed to forget about their struggles a game ago and that’s exactly what the players did. Starting with this fake field goal, Florida’s special teams dominated Georgia. Florida converted all of its extra point attempts and even nailed a 21 yard-field goal. The return coverage shut down Georgia’s return man Isaiah McKenzie and delivered some big hits along the way. But it was this fake field goal that started everything and the Gators never looked back.
Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.
