10 Thoughts From the Sidelines: Florida 52, Ole Miss 28
Column | By Chris Spears, GatorBait Media
Florida 52, Ole Miss 28. The scoreboard told you who won. The sideline told you what kind of team this is.
1. Florida has an identity again.
The Gators want to run the football, and they want you to know it’s coming. Line up, lean on people and find out who still wants to tackle Jadan Baugh in the fourth quarter. Against the No. 4 team in the country, Florida ran for 302 yards.
2. Jadan Baugh is the compass.
Twenty-nine carries, 142 yards, three touchdowns. That made five straight 100-yard games, a run only Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor had put together at Florida. When the Gators need four yards, everybody in the stadium knows who’s getting the ball. He usually gets six.
3. Duke Clark means no intermission.
You survive Baugh, he trots to the sideline, and in walks Duke Clark: 12 carries, 126 yards. That’s not a backup. That’s a second problem. His 45-yard touchdown came minutes after Ole Miss cut it to 17-14 and started to believe.
“I thought Duke played out of his mind, and he’s got all the ability in the world.” — Jon Sumrall
4. Aaron Philo doesn't have to be the hero.
Philo went 16 of 23 for 196 yards, threw a touchdown pass and ran for another. He didn’t try to win every snap. He won the next one. There’s maturity in handing it to No. 13 and getting out of the way.
5. This team takes a punch.
Ole Miss punched back. It got tight twice, at 17-14 and again at 24-21, and nobody on Florida’s sideline blinked. The Gators answered with touchdowns on their first five possessions of the second half. Old Florida teams treated adversity like a warning. This one treats it like part of a Saturday.
6. Special teams were quietly loud.
Right after Ole Miss pulled within 24-21, London Montgomery returned the kickoff 74 yards, and Florida needed three plays to score. He averaged 42.7 yards on three returns. Hidden yardage like that gets very visible by November.
7. The defense made the plays that mattered.
It wasn’t a masterpiece. Trinidad Chambliss threw for 298 yards. But Jayden Woods’ strip-sack, recovered by Myles Graham, set up another touchdown and changed the temperature of the game. DJ Coleman added a fourth-quarter interception. Good defenses are judged by moments, and Florida’s showed up for them.
8. Vernell Brown III changes the shape of the field.
His speed pushes safeties back and opens everything underneath for Baugh and Clark. He tweaked a knee late in the second quarter; Jon Sumrall said nothing is torn but it’s too early to know about next week. This offense is at its best with him on the field. Worth watching.
9. The Swamp sounded like The Swamp.
Third downs felt different. Big runs sounded different. The crowd didn’t come to be entertained; it came to take part. A real home-field advantage still makes 11 men play like 12.
10. Florida finished like it belongs.
Up 38-28, the Gators didn’t sit on it. They attacked. Touchdown. Then another. The No. 4 team in the country came in hoping to steal one and left just trying to get out of Gainesville.
The scoreboard said 52-28. The sideline said these Gators are growing up faster than anybody expected.
More from The Swamp: Baugh Game: the full game story · Sumrall's postgame press conference
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