No. 11 Florida Gators Take Advantage Of Huge Second Half To Smash Tennessee, Go To 1-0 In SEC East

Malik Davis runs for a touchdown in Gators win over the Vols. Photo Credit: Chris Spears

There was a slight Alabama hangover for the No. 11 Florida Gators (3-1, 1-1), as they stumbled in the first half, before clamping down to defeat the Tennessee Volunteers (2-2, 0-1) in dominating fashion, 38-14 on Saturday night. Even before the opening kickoff, there was a feeling how this one would go; it was just a matter of if the Gators were willing to do the work.

There’s often a dip in intensity for teams after getting into a grudge match with the No. 1 Crimson Tide. But a week after falling 31-29 to Bama, the Gators came out swinging, ready to defend their SEC East title.

With the Volunteers receiving the ball first, the Gators defense forced a three-and-out that got the crowd of 88,478 pumped and ready to roll. The offense kept things going with a 10 play, 60-yard drive that ended with Emory Jones hitting an uncovered Malik Davis for a five yard touchdown. It was the first receiving touchdown of the running back’s career, and gave the Gators an early 7-0 lead.

Both sides of the ball stumbled on their ensuing drives. The defense was knocked on their heels as the Vols put their preferred tempo into play and crossed midfield in a blink. From the Gators 47-yard line, running back Tiyon Evans grabbed a screen and looked to be bottled up for a loss. Instead linebacker Amari Burney missed a tackle, the rest of the secondary took bad angles and Evans scampered for the open 47-yard touchdown, and the tie.

The missed tackles were an issue versus Alabama as well, and are a serious concern for linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, who pulled aside his linebacker coach Christian Robinson after the game to discuss the problem.

"I was kind of pissed off. I missed a tackle on the second drive so I was kind of pissed off about that. I don’t want that to happen again," admitted a brutally honest Diabate.

“Personally, it’s something I just talked to Coach Robinson about. Obviously we’ve been getting at it as time has went on. But something we have to do is stay after practice and get extra work. Maybe call a few running backs over and make them make a couple of moves on you, you are gonna see if you can put can fit them up well, because like you said, we don’t get a lot of opportunities in practice to tackle full speed to the ground, so we have to put ourselves in situations that can simulate that.”

The offense easily moved into the redzone, using off-tackle runs and screens, but faltered once there with back-to-back penalties and a Jones pass that should’ve been picked. Settling for the field goal, they regained the 10-7 lead. The defensive woes didn’t stop there though. After Florida was forced to punt, the defense had the Vols pinned deep in their own territory. But a blown coverage/miscommunication meant safety Mordecai McDaniel might as well have been in Ocala for as close as he was to JaVonta Payton.

Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker took the wide open, 75-yard shot and UT took the 14-10 lead. The defense caused a bit of whiplash during the first half, forcing the Vols to punt four times deep from their own territory, but interspersed those stops with two touchdown drives of 80 plus yards.

“I feel like we were playing real good in the first half, we just gave up a couple of big plays," explained Diabate. "That first touchdown we had a missed tackle, that second touchdown we had a missed assignment and big touchdown. But we felt like in between those plays we were playing really good defense. The message was just eliminate those big plays and play every single play with attention to details and just to execute. So we came out the second half and did that and you guys saw the results.”

The offense, not to be outdone, caused enough whiplash of their own that those watching should’ve called a personal injury lawyer.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first half, the Vols were forced to punt. Gators’ Xzavier Henderson was back to receive, and was nailed by Jimmy Holiday. The kick-catch interference also got tacked with a targeting call and as a result the Gators started on the UT-30 yard line.

Facing a 4th and 1, Mullen elected to go for the conversion. At first the Gators had it…then they didn’t, as Jacob Copeland, with a reception well past the chains, fought for extra yardage. The officials had been letting plays run long all night, so instead of going down or hearing a forward progress whistle, Copeland, now in the redzone, kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting, until the ball was ripped from his hands for a fumble.

"Just keep your head up," Jones told Copeland. "I was like, I said 'Imma hit you again. I mean, I'm gonna keep coming to you.' I mean, I just told him to keep his head up, keep his head in the game. So I mean, that's what I tell everybody who goes out there and makes any type of mistakes. I mean, I never want to see any my teammates down."

Mullen was ok with Copeland's decision to fight for extra yardage, at least in theory. But will use the moment as a coaching lesson.

"He's trying to make plays, you know, the problem is, he's physical, he's tough, he's strong. You know, if anything of that situation, the biggest coaching part, I don’t mind him doing that. He's trying to go play and make plays after the catch. Though you’re in a two-minute situation, so you can get out of bounds."

Using their neck-breaking tempo, Tennessee ran downfield, looking to make something happen before half. Some suspect clock management from Vols’ head coach Josh Heupel meant the Vols were left only with time to kick a field goal for the tie. It went wide right and Florida escaped with the lead at half.

The Gators got the ball to start the second half though, and took advantage. With an offensive drive that we’ve become more accustomed to seeing under Dan Mullen, Florida moved downfield with a six play, 78-yard drive that featured Jones’ scrambles, 33-yard downfield shots to Justin Shorter for highlight reel contested catch and a Mullen patented double pass for a touchdown.

From the 13-yard line, Emory Jones swung a pass left to wide receiver Trent Whittemore. The Gainesville native set and delivered a perfect pass to tight end Kemore Gamble in the back of the endzone. The play is called Kodak and it’s the same call Mullen used to score the only touchdown in the 2018 win over Mississippi State.

"That was Kodak," laughed Mullen, confirming it was the same play, "and executed really well, You call trick plays, it's a lot of them (are) about timing and execution. I thought it was good timing. We got them kind of, we were driving and they were kind of into like 'we're in the red zone, I'm in attack mode.' We then executed it very well."

Not only was it executed perfectly, it was called perfectly. Emory Jones revealed it was an audible from Mullen.

"Coach Mullen, he always has this little whistle thing he does on the sideline. I mean, he whistled and I heard him, and I mean, he checked to that play. Honestly, I mean, I told him after we scored, I said 'That was a hell of a play.' He said 'I know,'" laughed Jones.

The Vols looked to answer, and even moved downfield with a fourth-down conversion. Feeling confident, they attempted to convert a second fourth-down in the same drive. But with the crowd pulsing, Tennessee lined up with players noticeably confused. A throw just behind the receiver fell harmless and Florida took back over.

In total, the Gators defense pitched a shutout in the second half, a response to Mullen's halftime challenge. They held the Vols to 162 total yards after intermission and got huge play from Mohamoud Diabate (eight tackles and a quarterback hurry), Brenton Cox (two and a half tackles for loss), Zach Carter (sack and pressure) and Trey Dean (team high 11 tackles).

"I think Todd and his staff did an amazing job tonight. Our guys played well, too. I challenged the defense at halftime that, you know, to do that, to our execution, and play to our standard," revealed Mullen.

"You see we can play great and then miss a tackle and then have a blown coverage and all of a sudden, you know, it's a tight game. And I challenge them guys about doing it every play, every single play, playing at the high, high level, and we did that, all the way to the final play of the game.”

From there, the nation’s No. 2 rushing attack just took over. Emory Jones rushed for 43 yards on three plays, and Dameon Pierce added 22 all purpose yards of his own. On 3rd and 1 from the Tennessee 9-yard line, Emory Jones went under center—a rarity—faked a pitch to Pierce and rolled out right, where he hit a wide open Rick Wells for the touchdown to go up 31-14.

Hoping to mount a late comeback, Tennessee—who was held to a mere 5-13 on third down conversions—lined up for another fourth down try. The crowd forced a delay of game and any chance of a rally was effectively over.

"The Gator Nation showing out, creating that environment for us here at the Swamp, getting the Swamp to where it is, what people think it is," bragged Mullen. "A stadium people are—tough place to come play, they're nervous about coming to play here and that's because of the fanbase and the environment they create, the energy they bring to our team for four quarters, the energy our student body and the fans bring is pretty special."

Emory Jones picked up 48-yards on a run he read as an option the ensuing offensive drive, giving him 209 yard passing and 144 yards rushing, and making him the first Gator quarterback since Tim Tebow did it versus FSU in 2009.

“That’s my dog. My dog balled. Quote me on that," requested Pierce, who finished with eight carries for 62 yards.

“You’ve got more to come. They’re just scratching the surface with Emory. That’s a guy with a lot of potential and a lot of grit. He’s just getting comfortable out there, man. He’s still getting his feet wet. Expect more of that from Emory.”

Another late touchdown, this one courtesy of Malik Davis (10 rushes, two receptions, 59 total yards and two touchdowns) put the Gators up 38-14. They finished with 505 total yards of offense, making it 14 straight games with 400 plus yards.

They're also still in control of all they want to achieve. And with losses from Clemson and Texas A&M today, the Gators should move into the Top 10. They'll do so on the road next week, continuing their SEC East defense, taking on the Kentucky Wildcats.

“The sky’s the limit," predicts Dameon Pierce. "Not only as an offense but the team in general. We have a lot of great guys. Coach said we just have to play together as a team. Once we find our little thing, we’re just missing one thing, we just gotta find it, bro, we’re trying to find it week to week. As soon as we mesh together we’re going to be a great team.”