Florida Gave On Saturday—Gave Way Too Much!
By Eddie Gilley
The Florida Gators had it handed to them in Columbia on Saturday. They were whipped in every phase of the game. There is nothing you can point to where the Gators were better on Saturday.
Missouri had the answer for Florida’s run game. Load the box. Commit to playing man coverage and a single safety on first down and dare the Gators to throw the ball. Florida kept trying to run the ball right into the teeth of the Tigers defense. It didn’t go well. The Tigers held the Gators to less than a hundred yards gained on the ground. 42 total yards on the ground. Baugh had 13 yards on 12 carries!
The guy who led the nation in rushing touchdowns was kept out of the end zone on the first drive of the game and for the rest of the game as well. I thought the Gators would need to throw the ball to loosen up the run defense, but they just couldn’t do it. The offensive line could not stand up against the basic rush of the Tigers. They were beaten up front all afternoon on rushes and passes.
On defense, the Gators could not stop Austin Simmons and the passing game from completing big plays when they need to do so. Tiger running back, Jamal Roberts, had the game of his life. He rushed for 211 yards on 24 carries and had three touchdowns. It was Roberts not Baugh who looked like a Heisman hopeful on this Saturday.
The Gator defense was shredded for over 500 total yards. The line could not get a rush at all. The secondary could not hold up with Tiger receivers running free and clear often. The flaws that Coach Sumrall warned about were on full display on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon.
As good as the Gators played last week at home, they were equally as bad on the road this week. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing went the Gators’ way on Saturday. Not the calls, not the bounces, not the swing of momentum. Everything that could go wrong did.
The first true test of adversity for the Gators was a blatant failure. They were punched in the mouth and never got up off the deck.
The good news is that the points won’t be carried to the game next week. At the end of the day, it is just the Gators’ first loss of the season. It doesn’t matter if you lose by one or lose by 28.
You just went 0-1 on the week to borrow the phrase Coach Sumrall likes to use. This is a tape that you just lose quickly. There will be a lot of plays that were not up to the standard. If you showed them all, you’d have to watch most of the game back.
There were not many plays that were positive enough to make a highlight reel. Maybe you just say let’s get to work and get ready for next week. And maybe you remind them of how that felt and challenge them to not let that happen again.
We know the Gators didn’t handle success all that well. We’ll see if they learn to handle the agony of defeat better and show up ready to battle against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Swamp.
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