Posts Tagged ‘brent pease’

Here are the coaches whose work jumped out to us as the best across college football for Week 13.

Head Coaches of the Week - Brian Kelly, Notre Dame and Urban Meyer, Ohio State: Thirteen weeks ago, 124 FBS teams were unbeaten and now only two are left standing. Each coach led his team to an emotional win and each team showed the mark of a true winner, growing more focused with every step closer it got to the finish line. Meyer's Buckeyes started the day by playing an inspired defensive effort to choke out Michigan, not allowing the Wolverines to cross midfield in the second half. Kelly's Fighting Irish went on the road and played like the better team for all 60 minutes against USC. Notre Dame's offense threw for 217 yards, ran for 222 yards and never turned the ball over. The defense limited USC to a lone field goal in the second half, and its exclamation point, of the game and the season, came in a goal line stand with two minutes left. 

Offensive Staff of the Week - Florida: The Florida offense has been far from effective for much of this season but the Gators came up big when it mattered the most on Saturday in defeating Florida State, 37-26. The Seminoles brought in college football's best run defense and Florida ran for 244 yards, its third-best performance of the season. Florida State brought in the nation's best total defense and Florida accumulated 398 yards, more than it gained against Bowling Green, Missouri, Louisiana - Lafayette and Jacksonville State. Brent Pease's group scored 37 points, three times what Florida State normally allows. Florida State led the nation in third down defense, allowing opponents to compete 25 percent of their opportunities. Florida converted over half of its third downs (8-of-15). Florida State allowed the fewest first downs in college football. Florida gained 21, one more than Florida State. 

Defensive Staff of the Week - Kent State: No defense filled the box score quite like Jon Heacock's Golden Flashes in topping Ohio 28-6 on Friday. Kent State returned a fumble and interception for touchdowns in building a 21-0 first-quarter lead. The Golden Flashes created a total of four fumbles on the day, sacked Bobcats quarterback Tyler Tettleton eight times and forced Ohio to punt nine times. Kent State held an Ohio offense that has run for 210 yards per game and 4.5 yards per carry to just 107 yards and 2.1 yards per carry. Ohio's 339 yards were its third-fewest of 2012 and, most importantly, its six point output was its worst of the season. 

Special Teams Unit of the Week - Notre Dame: On a night when Notre Dame moved the ball everywhere except the red zone, sophomore kicker Kyle Brindza came up huge for the Fighting Irish. He hit 5-of-6 field goals, including a career long 52-yarder, the second longest field goal in school history, just before the half to give Notre Dame a 16-10 lead at the break. Ben Turk boomed three punts for a net average of 44.3 yards, and the Irish coverage units neutralized the explosive Marqise Lee and Robert Woods in the return game. George Atkinson III also returned a kickoff 39 yards, setting up Brindza's fifth field goal to put the Irish up by two scores, 22-13, with 5:58 to play. 

Call of the Week - Mark Tommerdahl and Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech: The Bulldogs didn't win the game, but they do win our Call of the Week with a beautiful fake field goal call of Saturday night's game with San Jose State. Trailing 17-6 in the second quarter, Louisiana Tech lined up for a 33-yard field goal when holder David Gru grabbed the snap and ran left, directly at the oncoming edge rusher. Gru then  shoveled it forward to Malon Lee (who had lined up as the right wing), who raced in for a 15-yard touchdown. A bit of a read option type look, nice design.  

The only thing that matters to first year Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease is putting wins in the "W" column, an area that they've been very good at through the first seven weeks of the season (7-0, 6-0).

Pease explains that putting up 50 points or racking up gaudy yardage totals are the last thing on his mind, he's focused on playing to their strengths and doing whatever it takes to win ball games.

The Gators currently rank 114th nationally in passing offense (138 ypg), 100th in total offense (350 ypg), and 25th in rushing offense (213 ypg). In five of their seven games this season, they've ran for over 175 yards, and have at least 40 rushing attempts along with less than 22 pass attempts in six of their seven games. Pease and the offensive staff have figured it's games like that, not stats, that have made up their winning formula so far this season.

"I’m not worried about yards. We’re not going to win any statistical awards this year, and I don’t think we’re trying to. I don’t think we’re set up that way yet, especially as a coordinator in his first year with a new quarterback. We’re definitely not going to be like West Virginia and those teams where we’re throwing for all these yards.”

The development of that hard nosed, "do whatever it takes" mentality was helped by an off season motto that strength and conditioning coordinator Jeff Dillman coined over the summer. The phrase "Florida never breaks" became their battle cry during workouts and has been used plenty during crunch time on game day. That motto has helped to establish their identity, particularly within the offense.

“Jeff Dillman has kind of come up with that as far as different ways to motivate the players throughout the summer, to be able to always try to find an edge and create an edge for our football team” Will Muschamp explained.

"In the summer and when you’re sitting there in the middle of June and the middle of July, you better be creative in how to motivate some of these guys. I’ll be honest with you. I think back to when I was playing. It’s hard. It’s 150 degrees sitting outside and you’re lifting weights. You better have somebody in there that’s got a great message to motivate you, and Jeff certainly does.”

This weekend Florida will head to Athens to take on Georgia in a match up of top ten teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm ET on CBS.