The Florida Gators Get A Second Date With the No. 1 Team; Will It Present An Opportunity For Upset?
Dan Mullen faced his team, knowing he didn’t need to motivate them much for this game. It’s Florida-Georgia. It’s contentious and heated and more often than not, the decider of the SEC East crown. The latter won’t be the case this year, but the Gators—unranked for the first time in Mullen’s tenure—will step on to a field Saturday and see their most hated rival as the No. 1 team in the country.
The chance to play upsetter is enticing. So is the opportunity to prove they’re better than their record indicates. Currently at 4-3, it can be argued the Gators best game of the season came in a loss, falling by two points to the then No. 1 team, Alabama Crimson Tide. Now, this Gators team has a chance to face a No. 1 team yet again. That’s what Dan Mullen decided to lean in to, giving a last bit of ump to a game that is already filled to the brim.
He turned to Coach Paul Pasqualoni, a NFL position coach and longtime head coach for the Syracuse Orange, the latter of whom he led to their best run of winning seasons and Top 25 rankings over 13 years. He’s now on staff as the special assistant to the head coach.
“In all your years of coaching, how many times you play the No.1 team,” Mullen asked Pasqualoni.
“In 50 years,” responded the longtime coach, “never, never played the No. 1 team.”
The message was clear. This isn’t what anyone would call a gift, by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s as rare an opportunity as many teams will ever get.
“We get the opportunity to play two different No. 1 teams, you know, within our own conference, that was just on our schedule, it's a big opportunity and we look forward to it,” shared defensive lineman Antonio Valentino.
“It’s another chance to play the No. 1 team in the country, and, I mean, what bigger opportunity could you ask for? You only get these opportunities so many times, and it’s now the second time that we’re being presented with this. So, I fully believe in my team, believe in my coaches, believe in all of us to go out there and do what we’re supposed to do.”
That’s easier said than done. The Georgia Bulldogs defense is otherworldly. A third of the way though the season, they’d scored more points than they allowed. The defense. The defense had scored more points than they allowed. They’re allowing, on average, only 208.3 yards per game, the best in the nation. Kirby Smart’s crew also has the best scoring defense in the nation, only allowing—on average—6.6 points per game.
Running back Malik Davis, who was a huge piece in defeating the Dawgs with a wheel route last season, isn’t worried. Asked if Florida had the pieces to get the win, he responded confidently, “I don’t think. I know. I know we do.”
No disrespect to Malik Davis—who is of equitable talent to the Bulldogs stacked roster—but a win for the Gators would require a combination of a lights out game plan/coaching (which the Gators would have the edge on typically), a near perfect game with no penalties, some luck and Georgia to make mistakes.
It’s definitely possible; this college football season has been crazy enough that it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. But these two teams are on different trajectories. Florida is 4-3 with one inexplicable loss to the LSU Tigers, and another questionable loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.
Can they use those losses as lessons? Something to draw from and address in order to pull of the unimaginable? For corner Kaiir Elam, it’s the LSU loss.
“How do we take it as fuel and learn from it? Honestly, as a competitor that should motivate us just to do better. I hate to lose. I’m not going to lie to you. I hate to lose at anything I do. I feel like the team has been really motivated this week, not only because it’s Georgia and a big game just because of taking an ‘L.’
“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of strides from the defense from last week to this week. I just feel like I’ve been staying on everybody to just do better because last week wasn’t enough. No matter who you look at everybody could have done something better.”
On Saturday, they’ll have to do better than better. For a second date with No. 1, it’ll take their best. And their best is what this Florida Gators team promises to bring.
“I think for the program it will definitely give us some juice going into the rest of the season,” admits Valentino. “But, even if Georgia wasn’t the No. 1 team in the country – we could both be unranked, be No. 1, No. 2, whatever – ranking is a bonus, but it doesn’t matter per se. You know what I’m saying? It’s a game. It’s a game that we have to win.”
“I just feel like there's no reason for us to lose another game,” adds Elam. “Honestly, I just feel like, we just need to go out there and win. Like that's all I want to do is win. So whatever we got to do, we need to do it."
One Coach great recruiter, one not. Ours. You can’t be a college coach who can’t recruit. Where Florida is.Hope for the best. But we saw this at Ky, and at LSU. Coach O. fired after his victory. Very telling.