Three Things Florida Gators Fans Want To See From The Team On Saturday Against Georgia
The Florida Gators football fan base is griping.
They want to see people fired and different players starting. They want to see Florida's coaches doing better on the recruiting trail.
They want to see a lot happen. But more than anything, they want to see the Gators come away with a win on Saturday when Florida travels to Jacksonville to take on the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.
And while that would be the icing on the cake, here are three other things Florida Gators fans are hoping to see on Saturday:
Florida Gators fans want to see the Gators come out with energy
Sitting at 4-3 on the season, the Florida Gators' start to the 2021 campaign has been widely viewed as a disappointment.
Florida's two-point loss to Alabama back in September, while promising, was still disappointing.
The Gators' loss to Kentucky weeks later was a gut punch.
But Florida's most recent loss to a LSU Tigers team that might as well be stripped to bare bones pending a rebuild is a loss that will sting Gators fans for years. Disappointed isn't a strong enough word to describe what was felt by the Florida Faithful two weeks ago.
And that kind of energy bleeds into the locker room.
Earlier this week, UF defensive tackle Antonio Valentino took to Twitter to express his frustrations with the nay-sayers within the Gator Nation.
The locker room knows they've disappointed people. Hell, they've disappointed in themselves.
And with that kind of weight, the Gators can either fight or fold.
The weight of the Florida-Georgia game is heavy. And not because the Bulldogs are coming in as the top team in the country.
But because it just is.
"The rivalry makes it more than the rankings of whatever the teams are," Florida head coach Dan Mullen said earlier this week.
Each year players say that games like the one in Jacksonville are the type of games you come to the University of Florida to play in. And while this season's edition of the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party won't decide who wins the SEC East like it often does, a lot of dignity is hinging on Saturday's matchup.
And perhaps there's nothing more important than seeing the Gators come out of the tunnel on Saturday looking they want to be there and that they belong there -- playing the No. 1 team in the country for the second time this season.
"Our guys -- they get juiced for this. I don't need to motivate our guys a ton this week," Mullen said. "It's not like we need a rah-rah speech to get ready to play this game. It'll be a big game."
Florida Gators fans want to see a decision be made under center
After all the years of quarterback battles and controversies when Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain were at the helm in Gainesville, Florida fans are over it.
Many Florida fans want to see a clear-cut starter be named (and most really want him to be named Anthony Richardson). However, from the sounds of it, Dan Mullen and the Florida offense is far from picking just one guy to take snaps.
Mullen told reporters on Monday that both Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson were getting reps with the starting offense. And according to Mullen, that's how it is week-in and week-out.
"You gotta get both guys ready to go play," Mullen said. "We get both guys a lot of reps. It's probably a little more even than a lot of places... we try to keep them pretty evened out so that they are both ready to play."
So far this season, when both quarterbacks have been available, they've both played.
And that will be the case on Saturday when the Gators take on the Bulldogs as well.
"We plan on playing both of the guys like we have," Mullen said.
Florida Gators fans want to see the defense look better than it has
It's probably safe to call Steve Spurrier a Florida fan.
And it's probably even safer to say that most would nod in agreeance with the Head Ball Coach's assessment of Florida's defense.
When asked for his thoughts on the Gators' defense, Spurrier told SEC Network's Paul Finebaum that it was pretty simple.
"Well, we don't tackle very well," Spurrier said.
The LSU Tigers rushed for 321 yards against a porous Florida defense two weeks ago in a defensive showcase that was painful to watch. The Gators' defensive performance against LSU likely has Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham halfway out the door.
And while UF's defensive scheme against the Tigers was largely ineffective, Florida's struggles two weeks also falls into the category of the Gators' inability to play with consistency.
"Biggest think to me I wanna see is consistency of play. And that out of every aspect of our program," Mullen said on Monday. "We've seen that at times, and then there's other times there's glaring inconsistencies that jump out there that have hurt us at different times during the season."
Undoubtedly, Florida's defensive woes fall under the category of inconsistencies.
And if the Gators want to come out with a win on Saturday, Florida's defense will have to try and match the intensity that Georgia's defense plays with.
After all, it was Florida's ability to stifle the Bulldogs' run game last season that helped bolster them to a 44-28 win.
The Gators outgained the Bulldogs 571-277 last season and the Florida defense held Georgia's running backs to just 165 yards and allowed Georgia to convert just two of its 13 third downs.
"Anytime, especially in college football, I think if you can get the game and get the team in a drop back mode where you stop the run and force them into a drop back passing situation, most teams in college football, that gives you the advantage," Mullen said of Florida's success last year.
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