Beating Ole Miss was huge, but the Gators left at least 28 points on the field
This work in progress Florida football team left at least 28 points on the field Saturday at The Swamp, committed eight penalties for -92 yards, one of which nullified a spectacular 67-yard sprint to the end zone by Vernell Brown III, who broke a couple of tackles while juking his way into the clear, and gave the Ole Miss publicity people plenty of highlight reel video footage for their Trinidad Chambliss for Heisman Trophy campaign.
The Gators made the kind of mistakes that typically snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but this is not your typical mistake-prone team. Not at all. This Florida team seems to be feeding off its mistakes, transforming the negatives into positive responses.
A week ago after the Gators had whacked Auburn 44-39 despite 16 penalties and countless other mistakes that kept the game far closer than it should have been, Jon Sumrall offered glowing praise for the resilience of his team while painting a picture of doom and gloom if games in the future are as rife with an equal or greater number of mistakes. In so many ways, Saturday’s 52-28 win over 4th-ranked Ole Miss (3-1, 1-1 SEC) mirrored the Auburn win in terms of how many times the Gators shot themselves in the feet but just like Auburn, the responses to adversity were clear indications of a very capable team whose best days are yet to come.
“I think there's a lot of positive that's going on,” Sumrall said. “I see the warts. I see us practice every day. So the things that maybe don't look the way I want, if we have championship expectations and dreams and goals here, you can have no flaws. While I do think we're doing a lot of great things and I think we're being explosive in scoring and doing some things really well in flashes or in spurts, I think the consistency has to be even greater. But I like the direction we're headed.”
What’s this? Championship dreams and expectations? How could that be when just two months ago in Tampa at SEC Media Days, the folks that dwell on intellectual pedestals both nationally and in the SEC were questioning that the Gators could go 6-6 in Sumrall’s first year as the UF head ball coach. The Gators came into Saturday’s game with Ole Miss holding down the No. 21 ranking in the Associated Press poll. It’s doubtful the Ole Miss win will vault the Gators into the top ten, but somewhere between 11 and 15 seems reasonable.
The next eight games – seven straight SEC matchups and the season finale at Florida State – had the look of a gauntlet even a couple of weeks ago. Now, it’s not such a far-fetched notion that the Gators could get to ten wins. With the exception of No. 1 Texas in Austin on October 17 and No. 2 Georgia in Jacksonville on October 31, every other game looks so winnable that the thought of the Gators being an underdog seems outrageous.
At 4-0, 2-0 in SEC play, the Gators have already matched last year’s win total both overall and in SEC action. A year ago the Gators struggled to put points on the scoreboard, logging 259 in 12 games. They averaged 341.3 yards per game. Already in 2026, the Gators have scored 214 points and they’re averaging 532.6 yards per game.
What makes the numbers even more impressive is the fact this team is only scratching the surface of its potential. The Gators have put 44 or more points on the scoreboard in each of the first four games of the season, something that hasn’t been done since 2001, Steve Spurrier’s final season as the Florida head coach.
The Gators might have scored 70 against Ole Miss if they hadn’t made so many mistakes. They could have easily led 28-0 before Ole Miss even caught its breath but it took awhile to sort through all the adversity and respond with a dominant fourth quarter. It wasn’t until Ole Miss scored so easily on its first two possessions of the third quarter to cut Florida’s lead to 24-21 that the Gators did a collective suck it up Buttercup and flexed some muscle. Florida outscored the Rebels 28-7 the rest of the way, taking their lead from the offensive line, which got into a rhythm and pounded Ole Miss into submission. Even against an Ole Miss defense that loaded the box to stop the run, the Gators imposed their will and there wasn’t anything the Rebels could do about it.
“I feel that no defense in the country could stop us from putting up points,” Jadan Baugh said. Baugh ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns, his fifth straight game with 100 or more yards dating back to last season’s finale against FSU. He is second in the nation in rushing yards (600) and leads the country in scoring (66) on 11 touchdowns. “As you all see, we put up a lot of points each and every week but we have so much to work on to put more points on the board. I tell the guys, I try to put up 70, trying to put up 60, and they understand that and they’re ready to go.”
Seventy was achievable Saturday against Ole Miss, but the Gators left points on the field. On their second possession with UF ahead 7-0, Aaron Philo had a wide open Vernell Brown III running all alone down the West sideline but he rushed the throw and led Brown by about six inches too many. Rather than a TD that would have made it 14-0, the Gators ended up settling for a 49-yard field goal by Patrick Durkin.
Still ahead 10-0 and with less than a minute showing on the first quarter clock, Sumrall gambled on fourth-and-2 at the Ole Miss 19. Ole Miss loaded the box expecting a handoff to Jadan Baugh. At the snap, tight end Amir Jackson drifted into the left flat all alone. Any kind of catchable throw and Jackson could have waved to friends and family while heading for the end zone. That’s how open he was. It should have been 21-0 at that point.
A blatant hold by Bailey Stockton nullified Brown’s 67-yard touchdown on the next Florida series. Complicating matters, a delay of game penalty on the next snap was followed by Stockton dropping a pass that would have kept the drive alive. The Gators punted and were flagged for fair catch interference. Ole Miss, which should have been trailing 28-0, responded with a 5-play drive for a field goal that was assisted by a 15-yard face mask penalty against the Gators’ Jeramiah McCloud.
There is a ton of difference in 28-0 and 10-3.
To the Gators’ credit they responded positively to the Ole Miss score, taking 7:07 off the clock with a methodical 15-play, 87-yard drive capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by Baugh, his second score of the night for a 17-3 lead with 2:51 left in the first half. Ole Miss trimmed three points off the lead with a field goal that made it 17-6 at the half, but the game should have been well on its way to carnage status by then.
After trading touchdowns to start the second half – Florida retaliating to an Ole Miss TD with a tackle-breaking 45-yard juke job by Duke Clark – Ole Miss drove for a TD to cut the deficit to 24-21, a 14-play excursion that was aided by a defensive holding call on Dijon Johnson. The Ole Miss TD was Florida’s wakeup call. London Montgomery’s 74-yard kickoff return set up a 3-play touchdown drive ended by Philo scoring from one yard out.
On the ensuing Ole Miss drive, Jayden Woods made the defensive play of the game with a strip sack of Chambliss, the loose ball recovered by Myles Graham at the Florida 43. Seven plays later the Gators made it 38-21 on a 6-yard run by Dallas Wilson on a reverse with 13:38 left in the game, part of a 21-7 fourth quarter that saw the Gators turn this into a comfortable rout.
The people who vote on the rankings will see a 24-point Florida win and respond by moving the Gators up dramatically in the polls but many will overlook the fact the game should have never been this close. The Gators are indeed capable of lighting up the scoreboard with an offense that is as balanced as there is in college football – 1040 rushing yards, 1091 passing – but they do indeed leave points on the field. Defensively, the Gators are vastly better against the run than last year, allowing just 103 yards per game, but the DBs are getting torched. Ole Miss threw for 299 yards and it would have been more if not for the Gators taking nearly 37 minutes off the clock by controlling the ball with the running game.
The penalties are a real problem. The Gators are dead last in the SEC (89.3 yards per game) and 134th nationally. As good as the offense has been, it could be even better if not for the penalties and the same goes for a defense that has a habit of extending drives with silly mistakes.
The good news is that the problems are all very correctable. Lost in the shuffle of a perfect 4-0 September is the fact that as good as the Gators have been, they’re very capable of taking their game several notches higher. It will not happen overnight as this is an ongoing process but Sumrall sees improvement and knows he has the Gators on the right track.
Can they shock the world, win 10 or more games and make the College Football Playoff for the first time? That remains to be seen, but it begins on the practice field which then translates to week-to-week improvement on Saturdays. The win over Ole Miss was the springboard to next week when the Gators face Missouri on the road. Celebrating Ole Miss ends and focus on Missouri begins this afternoon. The idea is to win each day and stack daily wins that become winning on Saturday.
The win over Ole Miss cannot be understated. Its impact reverberated throughout the SEC and the college football world. Some are already proclaiming that the Gators are back but Sumrall isn’t buying that. At least not yet.
“I believe in our team,” he said. “I believe in the direction we’re headed. We still are not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination.”
ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC
No. 1 Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC) 20, No. 14 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) 17: Texas overcame its own offensive struggles with 10 sacks including five by Colin Simmons.
No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) 41, Oklahoma (2-2, 0-1 SEC) 13: Georgia managed only 306 yards of offense but took advantage of four Oklahoma turnovers.
No. 8 Alabama (4-0, 2-0 SEC) 49, South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC) 18: Keelon Russell threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns to lead Alabama.
No. 10 LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) 35, No. 23 Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC) 6: The LSU defense held Texas A&M without a touchdown and only 197 total yards.
No. 24 Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 SEC) 31, No. 19 Missouri (3-1, 0-1 SEC) 24: Mississippi State outscored Mizzou 14-0 in the fourth quarter to pull this one out.
Auburn (3-1, 1-1 SEC) 21, Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC) 15: The story of the game was Auburn’s defense that bottled up the Vandy running game.
Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC) 45, South Alabama (2-2) 21: Kentucky had three 100+ rushers, CJ Patterson (149), Javon Patterson (137) and Jovantae Barnes (100).
Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC) 34, Tulsa (3-1) 6: KJ Jackson threw for 309 yards and a touchdown for the Razorbacks.
NEXT WEEK
No. 21 Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC) at No. 19 Missouri (3-1, 0-1 SEC)
Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC) at No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC)
No. 8 Alabama (4-0, 2-0 SEC) at No. 24 Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 SEC)
McNeese (2-3) at No. 10 LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC)
Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC) at No. 23 Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC)
Auburn (3-1, 1-1 SEC) at No. 14 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC)
Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC) at South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC)
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