No. 13 Florida Gators Stomp USF 42-20, As QB "Controversy" Continues
Updated: Sep 13, 2021
TAMPA, FL—The No. 13 Florida Gators (2-0) defeated the USF Bulls (0-2) by a score of 42-20, giving Head Coach Dan Mullen his 100th win as a head coach. On a gloomy Saturday afternoon in Raymond James Stadium—in front of a Bulls home crowd that skewed towards more orange and blue, Florida set themselves up for a high ranking showdown with No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide next week.
The Gators—favored by 28—were always going to win this game. Instead the day became more about a different competition; one between quarterbacks Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson. The starter Jones, went 14-22 for 151 yards, one passing touchdown and two interceptions, as well as 82 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Richardson finished 3-3 for 152 yards and two touchdowns through the air, as well as four rushes for 115-yards and a touchdown (which led the Gators on the ground).
The first half saw the quarterbacks play a game of "anything you can do, I can do better," combining for four touchdowns that went down in a dueling banjo's fashion. But in the second half, Jones struggled, even coming on the field in a rain of boo's from Gator fans, while Richardson shined.
After the Gators opening week win, in which Jones and Richardson faced off as well, Head Coach Dan Mullen reiterated Jones was the starter. After two games, with Bama on the docket, he's sticking with Jones as the starter, but plans on featuring both.
"We have two really good quarterbacks. You’ll see both of them play every single game," Mullen told local media following the win. "I mean we're pretty lucky. We have two quarterbacks that are pretty talented guys, can make plays happen out there on the field."
Richardson, following his third touchdown of the day, seemed to pull up in the endzone. Mullen updated his status, saying, "hamstring tightened up on him."
Florida received the opening kickoff and went three-and-out. The defense made sure the Bulls did the same though, as back-to-back sacks from Zach Carter and Jeremiah Moon pushed the Bulls deep into their own territory. After a shank punt, the Gators took over with favorable spot at their own 37-yard line.
Flexing Emory Jones out on a naked bootleg set up a quick 20-yard shot to Rick Wells, then Dameon Pierce took over from there. Three straight carries picked up a total of 43 yards. The final run saw the senior back roll over a defender and bounce off multiple hits to push his way into the endzone, giving the Gators the early 7-0 lead.
"I mean you saw the spectacular touchdown run that he made, I mean unbelievable run," Mullen raved on Pierce's score.
After a stout first defensive drive though, Florida slipped as the Bulls took the ball back. A lucky drop by a USF receiver who’d beaten Rashad Torrence kept the Bulls from a quick answer. But with Cade Fortin under center, USF worked downfield with quick throws and screens. A missed tackle allowed them into the redzone; facing 3rd and goal from the 8-yard line, Felix took a shot to the endzone but tight coverage from Mohamoud Diabate kept the touchdown off the board.
After settling for the 25-yard field goal, the Bulls had cut the lead to 7-3.
Freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson entered the game for his requisite package in the third series, and the running threat let loose a 75-yard bomb to Jacob Copeland, who waltzed in untouched for the touchdown, making it 14-3 on the one play drive.
The following offensive drive, hearing there was a quarterback controversy, Emory Jones said “not so fast my friend,” delivering an absolute dime to Xzavier Henderson, who pulled down the contested catch for a 35-yard touchdown. The Gators were up 21-3 and rolling.
From that point, it became not so much about Florida vs. USF but Jones and Richardson, dueling quarterbacks that both benefitted the Gators. Anthony Richardson executed a rocker-step to set up a 41-yard touchdown to Copeland—the second link up the duo had on the day—to make it 28-3.
Then—after linebacker Jeremiah Moon pushed Fortin into an errant throw that corner Kaiir Elam picked off—Jones took over in good field position and quickly answered, bouncing off initial contact before turning on the burners for the 33-yard touchdown run that gave the Gators a 35-3 lead.
The dueling quarterbacks are just as random and fun for the guys in the situation according to Jones.
"It’s crazy because we both didn’t know that that was going to happen. We just go with the flow every week and every drive, we go with the flow. He might call me in. You’ve just got to be ready to go out there and take advantage of the opportunity.”
On Florida’s first offensive possession of the second half, Jones was at midfield, with an empty set on 1st and 10 from the USF 45-yard line...so there were few bodies in the area to stop Mekhi LaPointe from a 50-yard big return, after the safety nabbed the easy interception. Wide receiver Justin Shorter eventually chased him down, bringing him down at the 10-yard line to stop the touchdown.
After the turnover, the Gators defense stood the Bulls up at the goal line. A bad snap on third down (which the Gators almost recovered) pushed USF back even farther, and they settled for a field goal, only netting three points off the turnover, cutting the lead to 35-6.
However, the next drive didn’t show an improvement. After putting the ball on the money in the first half, Jones under threw his guys in the second. Looking for Whittemore in the flat, Jones’ ball didn’t have enough air and Bulls safety Brock Nichols was able to jump the route and return the pick 38 yards.
This time, the Bulls punched it in; after switching to quarterback Timmy McClain at halftime, the freshman went 2-3 for 34 yards, moving the Bulls to the 1-yard line where Jaren Mangham scored, making it 35-13. The Bulls did not score a touchdown against the last Power 5 team they played, Notre Dame, in 2020.
"The guy who picked the ball, he didn't buzz out," described Jones of his turnovers after the win. "I was looking for that to happen, but he didn't. I should have just kept on my reads, but I tried to just get the ball out of my hands fast. I mean [Coach Mullen] basically just told me that that was a bad decision, I just need to read it out. The second one he told me the same thing"
After Florida’s defense held USF to a quick three-and-out, Anthony Richardson returned at quarterback. The game rolled into the fourth quarter and Richardson—under duress—escaped the pocket and delivered a deep 36-yard shot to Jacob Copeland. His helmet came off and he had to leave the field, bringing Jones back on at quarterback. He was almost picked, yet again, in the endzone, but it was dropped.
Jones stayed in and on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line, Jones threw to tight end Nick Elksnis out of the back of the endzone. Florida came away with no points, and USF took over on downs.
From their own 1-yard line, McClain threw out of the back of the endzone and found Xavier Weaver downfield for a 44-yard completion. The Bulls were kept out of the endzone, but the completion was a reminder of the biggest issue as the Gators head into Week 3.
With no disrespect to USF, much of this week was about working out kinks before big bad Bama comes to town next week. In reference to every part of the offense and the run defense on the other side of the ball, the Gators did just that in the first half; and for that matter, the run defense continued to stay strong in the second half, holding the Bulls to STAT rushing yards for the entire game.
If there is an area of concern after leaving Tampa though, it’s the slip-ups in the secondary. The unit was admittedly Dan Mullen’s biggest concern coming into the season. They glowingly struggled in the first half, and were the beneficiaries of overthrown balls.
To corner Avery Helm’s credit, after having prayers answered on some overthrown passes on which he’d been beat, the first on the mark pass thrown his way of the day, he stuck his arm in for a textbook pass breakup. And on the first drive of the second half, Jason Marshall—who had been beat as well during the first half—broke up a would be touchdown pass and the Bulls eventually had to punt.
It's the risk and reward of playing young players, according to Mullen, especially where Helm and Marshall are concerned.
"I mean, good and bad. But you know what, they’re young guys getting thrown out there, getting thrown into that situation. Obviously the injury that we had did not help us, with where we’re at there. But those two guys are gaining valuable experience and are getting a little bit better from one week to the next. I thought their performance was much better today than it was last week, which is a real positive and hopefully we take another big step next week.”
Following the aforementioned Bulls drive, the Gators offense retook the field and Richardson trotted out at quarterback to cheers. He took the first snap of the drive, broke several tackles and outraced everyone for the 80-yard touchdown.
The Bulls added a late touchdown that was significant to some and Mullen left with the game ball for his centennial win, and a notebook of things to work on before Bama. The latter is proof Florida has become a victim of their own success, as the head coach is addressing problems, after putting up 663 yards of total offense, while holding the Bulls to 297 total yards.
This is the identity Florida wants to play with though, so continuing it next week in the early season showdown will require fixing what Mullen saw wrong today.
"We can improve on everything. We played pretty solid defense in the first half. We had the one drive that I wasn’t real pleased with in the first half. Second half we came out in some situations, made some stops, made some mistakes defensively at the end of the game. Offensively, we came out and we made a bunch of explosive plays and kind of really did well in the first half even though we were not as clean and efficient as I wanted to be.
"In the second half, we came out we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be, made some mistakes as the game wore on and we got to be better that way. Kicking game, made some mistakes, obviously gave up a huge return, made a poor judgment in fielding a kick and trying to run it out. Our kickoffs need to get better. I mean, overall, do I like our attitude, our energy, our effort of what we played with? Yes. Did our guys take care of what they needed to to win the game? Yes. Do we need to get a lot better? Yes.”
Think Richardson needs to start. Jones can’t miss these passes against over matched teams, and guess what Alabama will do with 2nd changes? Shudder.