Sports

‘Cats see where they need to be

Paul Dehner Jr.

An analysis was posed shortly after the Wildcats’ 51-41 loss to Florida on Saturday that South Georgia would have won the game if it didn’t make its mistakes.

Namely, three fumbles, four turnovers and one critical unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Only one problem with that: the Wildcats did make those mistakes. The Florida Firecats didn’t. In fact, by all accounts this season, the Firecats don’t.

That is the difference between being good and being great in this league.

What we learned Saturday was South Georgia is good. Florida is great. And the gap between good and great apparently accounts for about 10 points.

The Wildcats have until May 24, when they travel to Naples, Fla. to play the Firecats again, to figure out how to close the gap.

In a South Division that for the moment appears destined to come down to these two teams — keeping an eye on Tennessee Valley, though. That’s bad news for the Wildcats, and specifically South Georgia fans hoping to attend the first home playoff game in team history.

The only way to earn a home playoff game, at least in the first round, is to win your division.

This is only Week 5, but with a quarter of the season gone, Florida already appears to have distanced itself from the field.

Not to say the Firecats will go undefeated this season, but barring injury or natural disaster, they won’t lose many.

More than any other team the Wildcats have faced this year, Florida was brutally efficient.

They lacked the flash of a player like the Wildcats’ P.J. Berry, who as an aside has quickly proven himself to be the best player on the field every time he touches it through the first five games.

And as another aside, for that very reason he needs to find his way out of the four-man rotation taking him off the field every third series. The most productive, explosive player on your team should never leave the turf, ever.

Yet, I digress.

Back to the Firecats. Here’s the thing, with every underneath pass, held block and third-down conversion, they don’t dazzle but execute so precisely without fail they allow the opponent to beat itself.

Take Saturday, the Firecats decided to play off South Georgia’s explosive receivers, forcing them to make plays underneath and slow down the tempo.

When they did, they eventually forced two fumbles from runners attempting to break tackles.

It may appear to be a Wildcats mistake, and for the most part way, but it was as much Florida’s gameplan playing out to perfection.

Saturday, they were the better team.

Florida is who we thought they were, but I don’t want to crown ’em. Not yet.

All of this is not to say the Firecats will run away with the South. But it is to say the Wildcats found out how far they have to go in order to catch up.

Currently, the Wildcats are a team that makes mistakes. They have in every game.(See 14 turnovers) Currently, the Firecats aren’t. (See four turnovers) Unless one of those changes, the Wildcats could again be looking at an uphill road to the playoffs, if they can get in. Road being the key word.

In reality, we probably witnessed the two best teams in the entire conference on Saturday.

That same unfortunate reality is the Wildcats have to play Florida two more times.

“This is a three-round bout,” coach Derek Stingley said. “The season isn’t over.”

But after a convincing first round, the Wildcats have been staggered.

They have until May 24 to recollect themselves.

“You never feel good about a loss,” QB Andrico Hines said, “but we are confident in the things we can do against them.”

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