What Happened in Jacksonville (2)
(Brad Nessler) — CBS Play-by-Play
“Welcome, everyone, to SEC on CBS, presented by Home Depot. From TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, the Florida Gators take on the nation's No. 1 team, the Georgia Bulldogs. This magnificent event has returned once again to a packed house. Half this stadium is orange and blue. The other half is red and black. Georgia sits at 7-and-0. Florida is 4-and-3 — and every one of those losses came at the hands of SEC teams.”
“We're thrilled to have you with us! I'm Brad Nessler, joined as always by Gary Danielson and Jamie Erdahl. As you know, games between these two teams have never been short on fireworks. It's been called the largest outdoor cocktail party in the world. But at this stage of the season, the two programs find themselves in very different situations. Last year, both teams boasted elite quarterbacks — but now, one of them is dealing with a quarterback problem.”
October 30, 2021
United States — Jacksonville, Florida
TIAA Bank Field
Georgia (1) — 0
Even at a neutral site like TIAA Bank Field, the entrance ritual began right on schedule.
Honestly, I'd assumed they wouldn't do it here. But then the broadcaster came asking. They said they'd lay out the stage however we wanted — couldn't we show them that thing that had gone absolutely viral on YouTube and social media?
There was no reason for me to refuse. It was good for me, and good for the team.
Walking out through thick plumes of smoke, I stopped where the red lights were flashing and waited for the haze to thin a little. Then, sweeping my hand through the smoke as if parting it, I stepped forward and roared at every corner of the stadium.
“KEI TE PAPA PAKANGA- HUA-!!”
(On this field of battle)
“HE IWI KOTHI!!”
(We will be as one)
“MO NGA IWI WHANUI!!”
(For family and for community)
“U---GA-----!!!”
I slammed my helmet on and charged out — and fireworks far bigger and brighter than anything Sanford Stadium had ever seen erupted overhead.
This was genuinely insane. Doing this at a neutral site? For a college game?
The feeling of sprinting through the wind was even more electric than I'd imagined.
“I'M HIM!!”
“““I'M HIM!!!”””
(Brad Nessler)
“That is the special ritual of Dwayne Moi Stone, which captured fans' hearts at lightning speed. I'M HIM! At first, I had absolutely no idea what it meant. Turns out it means exactly what it sounds like — I am that guy. It's a signature Gen-Z expression of confidence and dominance.”
(Gary Danielson) — CBS Analyst
“In barely a year, he's become an iconic figure in college football. His talent speaks for itself, but he's also just a joy to watch on every level. If this quarterback goes off today like he usually does, Florida is going to be in for a very long afternoon.”
(Brad Nessler)
“Dwayne Moi Stone is in serious pursuit of back-to-back Heisman Trophies. Only one player has ever won it twice in a row — running back Archie Griffin, at Ohio State in 1974 and 1975. And he remains the only two-time winner in history. Can Dwayne Moi Stone reach that mountaintop? Jamie Erdahl has the latest. Jamie?”
.
.
(Jamie Erdahl) — CBS Sideline Reporter
“The praise for Dwayne Moi Stone just keeps coming. Many are saying he's rapidly marching toward the title of greatest player in college football history. This quarterback has already essentially locked up half of this year's Heisman Trophy, and next month's clash with Alabama is shaping up to be the game that decides the award.”
“Beyond that, Dwayne Moi Stone says he chose I'M HIM as a message for his team. If not just he, but every single one of his teammates, becomes special, then the team will naturally play great football. Even Kirby Smart weighed in, calling it the mark of a quarterback with real leadership.”
Jacksonville, battered by tornadoes on Thursday and Friday, was serving up perfect football weather. The sky was a crisp, cloudless blue — a cliché, but the picture-book kind of blue — and the 70-degree air lifted everyone's mood.
53 wins, 44 losses, 2 ties. Florida claims the record is 43-53-2 in their favor and that today is the 99th meeting — but our side, the broadcast world, and the NCAA's official record-keepers all say today marks the 100th.
Florida won the opening kickoff.
They chose to play defense first.
You could call it a surprise, but given how our defense has been playing lately, slamming the door on our opening drive rather than getting run over by one of theirs might actually have been the smart call.
Of course, my plan was to make them regret it.
Me.
No — the entire offense. They'd disrespected all of us.
So I gathered the boys and let it rip.
“They think they can stop us!!”
“HELL NO!!!”
“Then tell 'em where to stick it!!”
“THAT'S IT!! Let's show them how stupid a decision they just made!! We're gonna rip the gators' mouths wide open!!”
I pounded each teammate's chest one by one — they looked ready to breathe fire right there on the sideline — and pulled every ounce of fight out of them.
Meanwhile, the kickoff sailed through the air. Kearis Jackson took the return, advancing it to around the 35-yard line.
The huddle formed instantly at the sideline, and Coach told us to simply keep doing what we'd always done. He sent us off with encouragement.
But did he realize what he'd just said? Keep doing what we've always done.
That meant: score a touchdown.
(Brad Nessler)
“No. 14 will lead Georgia's offense once again today. That would make SEVEN straight games with points on the opening drive. In every game Georgia has played this season, their first drive of the day has ended in points. That is enormous.”
(Gary Danielson)
“And it's not just the opening drives, Brad. Their points-per-drive rate this season is bordering on absurd.”
(Brad Nessler)
“Gary's right — Georgia is averaging 5.2 points per drive this season, the best mark in college football history, and a testament to just how much No. 14 changes everything. Papa John's brings you the starting lineups. Dwayne Moi Stone: since arriving at Georgia last year, he has started twenty total games without a single loss. Last year he rewrote nearly every freshman quarterback record in college football — and became the first true freshman Heisman winner ever. He is Another Level. The Football King is ready for his first snap of the day.”
After the recent game, Coach and Coach Monken apparently concluded that the 1-2 PG (Personnel Grouping) — with Brock and Darnell on the field together — was our best offensive option right now.
Five O-linemen left and right, plus two tight ends.
Florida's defense, meanwhile, ran a 3-4. We outnumbered them at the point of attack.
Their linebacker quality this year was a step down from last season, and Todd Grantham was a defensive coordinator whose philosophy simply didn't fit modern football. He was brilliant at polishing individual defenders' skills, which is why he kept getting hired — but when it came to building cohesive unit defense, he graded out as a flat-out failure. Even back when he ran our own defense at Georgia, his first year was always strong, then the results slid steadily from year two onward.
It was now his fourth year as Florida's defensive coordinator. The weaknesses were everywhere.
Zamir ripped off a 10-yard run. Then a 7-yard run on a Jet Sweep.
Having picked up an easy 17 yards, we crossed into midfield territory and I chose the no-Kitty version of Hello Kitty as our third play call — the Shotgun formation. The moment the quarterback lined up out of under center, Florida's defense was forced to attach a linebacker up front, forming an edge with the opposite tackle to rush the passer.
Once again, the 1-2 PG.
I sent Brock, who'd been lined up on the left, over to the right. Florida's No. 8, deep in their defensive backfield, signaled Brock's movement — and once I'd confirmed every last detail, I barked the play call.
“Go Red, 80!! Ready-!! SET!!”
Snap!
I faked the handoff to James Cook, who'd taken the first snap handoff of the day, slipped past a defender crashing in from the left, and sprinted for the right sideline. The reason No. 0 on the left could have pressured me was that Darnell, the man responsible for blocking him, had released into his route instead.
When your target is a tight end lining up in a lineman's position rather than a receiver spot, the most basic trick in the book is to fake a failed block and let the defender slip past. The D-linemen up front have one job, and their second job is the same: collapse the pocket. Let a tight end whiff his block and the edges' eyes light up — they come flying in reckless.
And we use every bit of that.
From left tackle to center, our line shoved Florida's D-line hard to the left, opening the lane for Darnell's route. The right guard and right tackle each won their one-on-ones against Florida's remaining two defenders. And because Brock had jet-swept across the formation, any Florida linebacker chasing the play was held in check.
That's how offense gets designed. Quarterback and target. You assemble the blocks and assign the routes so that space opens between at least two of the eleven men on the field.
By the time I'd sprinted right and bought myself plenty of room, Darnell — who'd lined up at the far left of the line of scrimmage just before the snap — was standing alone on the right side of the field.
I threw immediately. The ball came out with a beautiful, unwavering spiral and settled securely into Darnell's chest. He turned upfield and ran — he didn't gain much extra yardage, but the first down was already ours.
One minute and thirteen seconds into the drive, and we'd already moved 30 yards.
(Gary Danielson)
“A bootleg from Georgia that answers Florida's intent exactly. Watch the play-action, the quarterback pulls it and runs — and look how wide open the tight end is. THIS is how Georgia attacks under Dwayne Moi Stone.”
Florida's defensive weakness was the lack of mobility in their linebackers, and the zone-coverage fragility that came with it. They also folded to misdirection ridiculously easily.
I'd called them the more noticeable part of their team, but that was strictly a relative compliment — they were a notch below Clemson, even a notch below Kentucky. Still, when they caught momentum their ceiling rose sharply, which meant I had to keep us locked in from the first whistle to the last.
The snap came out of a trips formation to the right. The backfield was empty. AD stood alone on the left as the X-receiver, Darnell lined up right as a tight end with Ladd McConkey and KJ bunched beside him. And on the left — Brock.
Today, I—
“Go, Red 80!! Ready-!!”
kept hammering them side to side.
“SET!!”
The snap came, Brock took his blocking assignment on the left, and Ladd McConkey — who'd jet-swept on the previous play — stabbed into the left side. Normally, trips formations target that bunch or hand the ball to a running back, but by emptying the backfield we'd planted a prejudice in the defense's mind: the target had to be on the right. That's exactly what we wanted them thinking.
But when McConkey jet-swept behind the line of scrimmage just before the snap, the bunch we'd built on the right collapsed — and in the same instant, confusion rippled through Florida's defense. They belatedly realized there was a target on the left, but by then their whole defense was already tilted right.
Having taken the snap and rolled into the open space on the left, I watched AD square up one-on-one with Florida's No. 24. The moment the play began, AD tore straight downfield, planted a step to sell the left, then broke right — a post route. The second I saw the separation open between him and No. 24, fooled by the double move, I swung my arm without a hint of hesitation.
No. 22 should have been patrolling deep as the single-high safety over AD's route, but he'd seen McConkey's jet sweep and charged forward instead of holding the back end. Understandable read — but with us still at the 36-yard line, guarding the deep middle would have been the better call.
The ball floated a touch higher than the last one, sliced through the air like an arrow, and landed right in AD's hands. A couple more steps and he strolled cleanly into the end zone. Touchdown.
Watching it happen, I whirled toward the sideline and bellowed with my fist in the air.
“THIS is me!! THIS is who I am!!”
Defense first? How dare they.
The time it took to make Florida regret that decision? Two minutes and ten seconds was more than enough.
(Brad Nessler)
“Georgia continues the opening drive at the Florida 36-yard line. Moi rolls left — he's got his man. The pass is to the end zone-! TOUCHDOWN-! OH MY! Eight straight games! Georgia scores on its opening drive for the EIGHTH consecutive game!!”
(Gary Danielson)
“AD Mitchell has been targeted an awful lot this year. I never expected a freshman to fill the void left by George Pickens this well. Watch the movement again — right before breaking, he sold the defender completely. Florida's backfield was empty, and the instant the receiver created that space, Dwayne Moi Stone pounced. A perfectly designed attack from the nation's No. 1 team.”
Same moment
The General Manager's Office
Cheers the likes of which had never been heard at TIAA Bank Field were punching through layer after layer of walls, all the way into the general manager's office.
The opening drive Dwayne Moi Stone had just orchestrated for Georgia had been seamless as flowing water, making Florida's defense look like a set of scarecrows. On the Jacksonville Jaguars subreddit, where comments were flooding in by the second, three words were erupting like a bursting dam: WE WANT MOI.
"..."
Click.
Unable to stomach the comments a second longer, Trent Baalke shut off the screen, then darkened the monitor as well. He walked over to the TV and raised the volume he'd kept low.
"..."
Once the broadcast filled the room and drowned out the crowd noise, Trent Baalke finally began to think — and, alone, to argue with the fans' demands. Rookie trades essentially do not happen in the NFL. The reason is the rules. Players drafted and signed have their cap hit tied to the team that drafted them until the expiration of their initial contract.
In other words: even if you traded Trevor Lawrence to another team, no matter who actually wrote the checks, his salary would remain on Jacksonville's cap until his rookie deal ran out.
Everyone knew this, of course. The owner. The fans, too.
The owner giving him a choice of two paths in the first place was pressure to fire Urban Meyer. If he traded Trevor Lawrence, that alone would become grounds for his own dismissal — so the message was: cut the coach, unless you want to be ignominiously fired before your first year as GM is even done.
And the fans knew it too. They knew a Trevor Lawrence trade was impossible. They were simply venting their fury — at the dismal performance of their starting quarterback, and at a team playing so badly that it went beyond any excuse of "tanking" — and demanding that the franchise go get Dwayne Moi Stone instead.
For a while, swept up in the public pressure, Baalke had genuinely wondered whether he should send Lawrence away. But now, his resolve was beginning to harden. If he didn't steel his heart right now, every glimpse of Dwayne Moi Stone's play would make him waver all over again.
That hesitation could shake the franchise's future. And his own job along with it.
Picking up the remote, Trent Baalke killed the TV screen, walked back to his desk, and pressed the button on the speakerphone.
Click.
“Get me Brad Holmes with the Lions.”
The Jacksonville Jaguars — the league's thirtieth franchise, founded in 1993 and admitted to the NFL in 1995. A team suffering through dismal results as regional interest faded around them. Today, they officially claimed the scraps left over from the TFM process.