Five Things Florida Fans Want To See From Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators versus Vanderbilt

Dan Mullen can answer a lot of questions on Saturday against Vanderbilt. Photo Credit: Chris Spears

A loss always gets fans chirping -- especially in Gainesville.

But a loss like the one the Gators took last Saturday in Lexington is bound to come with some blowback from the Florida Faithful.

Some fans took to social media and called for Dan Mullen to be fired after losing his second game to Kentucky in four years -- something the Gators hadn't done in 31 years prior to his arrival.

But not all the griping was that extreme. However, there is a list of things the many fans want to see Saturday as the Gators host the Vanderbilt Commodores at noon for homecoming.

On Saturday, Florida Gators fans want to see....

Anthony Richardson

It’s no secret. After watching Anthony Richardson light up the USF Bulls on Sept. 11 Gators fans have been begging to see more of the freshman quarterback. However, a hamstring strain sustained at the end of the USF game has prevented fans’ appetite for more AR15 from being satisfied.

Despite Richardson being cleared for the Alabama and Tennessee games, the freshman quarterback never took a snap.

Ahead of Florida’s visit to Lexington last week, Mullen told reporters that Richardson was 100%. However, the freshman quarterback’s role was still largely limited in the Gators’ 20-13 loss to the Wildcats.

The 6-foot-4 Gainesville native completed his lone pass attempt for just eight yards and added 25 yards on the ground through five carries.

Despite the consistent calls for Richardson, Emory Jones hasn’t played all that bad.

In his last two starts under center, Jones has finished the night having completed over 70% of his passes and over 200 passing yards. Jones has also combined for a touchdown-interception ratio of 3-1.

However, a slow start against Tennessee and a season-altering loss to Kentucky don’t have fans convinced that Emory Jones is their guy.

Now, that doesn’t mean Mullen should buckle to the weight of public opinion and pull the plug on Jones. But many believe that Richardson has earned his shot.

Mullen was asked about expanding Richardson’s role earlier this week.

“We’ll look at it,” Mullen said. “It depends on our game plan from week to week and how practice goes.”

Well, if there’s ever a time to experiment and perhaps split time evenly between Jones and Richardson, the Gators’ matchup with a less-than-impressive Vanderbilt team would present a prime opportunity.

Shots down field

The number of shots down field (or lack thereof) has been one of the main areas of scrutiny for Mullen and Florida’s offense.

The Florida Gators offense didn’t take a single downfield shot against the Wildcats last Saturday night. Emory Jones’ deepest throw went for a 22-yard completion to Xavier Henderson.

However, point No. 1 and point No. 2 definitely go hand-in-hand here.

When you look at Florida’s quarterback’s spray chart from all five games this season, the Gators’ have thrown 16 passes that were deeper than 20 yards and only completed six of them.

Four of those completions were thrown by Richardson.

Now, should it be taken with a grain of salt considering Richardson’s completions came against FAU and USF? Sure.

But for someone who boasts an insane amount of sheer arm strength, there’s no denying that Mullen is pulling back the reins on Emory Jones. And to most, that appears to be a lack of trust.

Defensively, Vanderbilt isn’t expected to throw anything at Florida that the Gators haven’t seen -- making this week’s matchup a great opportunity for Dan Mullen to silence his critics and show that he trusts his quarterbacks, Emory Jones especially, as much as he says he does and let them air it out.

A field clean of yellow penalty flags

The best thing to come out of Florida’s loss to Kentucky have been the countless false start jokes.

As maddening as it was on Saturday night, if you have a sense of humor, I’d bet money you’ve joked about Florida’s false start woes this week.

But now that another Saturday is approaching, the penalties are no longer a laughing matter. Instead, they’re being viewed as a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

In the three games the Gators played prior to their visit to Kentucky, Florida tallied just 17 penalties and 157 penalty yards.

And in just 60 minutes of football, Florida nearly matched that last Saturday night as the Gators racked up 15 penalties for a loss of 115 yards. Eight of Florida’s 15 penalties were charged as false starts as a rambunctious sellout crowd at Kroger Field seemingly got to the Florida offense.

“The penalties were not working for us,” Mullen said following the loss. “I’ll be honest with you, we had 382 yards to 211 and I think that was a big factor. If you look at it… the penalties weren’t small. You’re looking at taking third downs off the board… Those are the issues. The mental errors were just -- you can’t do that and expect to win a game making that many mental errors.”

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium might burn down if the Gators get hit with a false start on Saturday.

A flawless game from special teams

When Dan Mullen returned to Florida as head coach, there was a new emphasis on special teams that hadn’t been seen since the Urban Meyer years.

But Florida’s special teams unit has been all but stellar so far this season.

Looking back at the Alabama game, many look back on the missed extra point and say, “If only…”. And those people have a point. If the Gators were to have split the uprights on the point after, there wouldn’t have been a need for the two-point try. Instead, Florida could have tied the game with an extra point and likely taken the game in overtime, where absolutely anything could have happened.

And though it ended up being one of the highlights of the game, let us not forget the muffed kickoff return that pinned the Gators on their own 1-yard line against the Crimson Tide. Fortunately for Florida, Emory Jones and Co. were able to orchestrate a 99-yard drive against Alabama to pull within a touchdown. But the mishap certainly could have been disastrous.

And then Kentucky happened.

Gator Country’s David Wunderlich did an excellent job in his recent piece as he described Kentucky blocking Florida’s field goal and returning it for a touchdown as “ an anomaly within an anomaly”.

But it happened. And it was undoubtedly a huge momentum swing in the game.

Florida’s special teams unit hasn’t lost Florida a football game. But they haven’t won them one either.

Dan Mullen’s killer instinct

This has been a point of criticism since Mullen arrived at Florida.

Gracing the same sideline as guys like Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer is no easy gig. Especially considering both Spurrier and Meyer weren’t afraid of humiliating opponents.

Spurrier took pride in hanging half a hundred between the hedges, while Meyer took those timeouts against Georgia in 2008, letting the Bulldogs soak in their 49-10 defeat.

Meanwhile, Mullen isn’t one to step on a team’s neck.

Though Florida was never in position to blow Kentucky out last week, we saw some of this mentality pour into the game anyways.

In last week’s game against Kentucky, the Gators had all three of their first-half timeouts. After Zachary Carter sacked Kentucky quarterback Will Levis on third down with 2:43 to play in the half, one would think Mullen would try and extend Florida’s 10-7 lead with another score, or at least a field goal.

Instead, Mullen watched as time ticked away in what many view as a very questionable decision.

Now, would it have been deemed all that puzzling had Florida pulled out the win? Probably not.

Nonetheless, the Gators are 39-point favorites on Saturday. And after spending all week questioning Mullen’s reluctance to be more aggressive in his approach, fans are going to want to see the Gators cover the spread.