Five takeaways from the Florida Gators 26-20 win over the Tennessee Volunteers.
1. Feleipe Franks showed he’s capable
Franks needed a game like this and a moment like this.
He’s a confident player, so he didn’t necessarily need a confidence boost, per say, but he was given the keys to the program on national television and he pulled out one of the most improbable wins in program history. Franks finished the game 18-28 (64%) for 212 yards with two scores and an interception.
He managed the game, when it needed to be managed and at the end of the day he launched a football 65-70 yards in the air to beat the Tennessee Volunteers.
He wasn’t taken out of the game after he was intercepted. What happened Saturday night was Jim McElwain hitched his wagon to Franks. The head coach will go as far as the young quarterback will take him, but knowing that the team and offense is finally his and he can stop looking over his shoulder should give Franks more confidence.
2. They found the get it to list
There were quick passes to Josh Hammond, Kadarius Toney, Tyrie Cleveland and Brandon Powell. There were slants, screens and overall it was a good gameplan. For two years we kept hearing about this mythical list of players that needed to get the ball but there was no creativity in trying to do that. Today Florida went out of its way to make sure those playmakers had the ball in their hands.
Do more of that.
3. I was wrong about C.J. Henderson
If you listen to the Gator Country Podcast (you should subscribe on iTunes) you would have heard me say that I didn’t see C.J. Henderson making a big impact this season. In my opinion I thought he was a project, a player that would need a year to develop before he was able to crack the lineup.
Henderson returned his second interception for a touchdown in his second career game.
He’s the first Gator player since 1996 that has returned interceptions for touchdowns in back-to-back games. He’s basically playing starter reps.
Henderson has arrived. He’s more than ready to handle the role they have laid out for him and he’s a stud.
I was wrong; it probably won’t be the last time.
4. The great finish doesn’t erase a terrible start
Embrace the moment. Relive the final play. It’s tremendous.
Don’t, however, embrace this offense just yet.
Tennessee’s rush defense heading into its game against Florida had been abysmal. Granted they had to play Georgia Tech’s triple option offense, but, c’mon, the Vols were giving up 328 yards on the ground a game through two games. Florida mustered just 168.
The offensive line was better against Tennessee than it was against Michigan but they proved they’re not going to get a consistent push in the running game, period.
This was supposed to be McElwain’s best offense, it’s just more of the same. There are more skill position players, guys mentioned above, but the line is what it is and it is what we should have expected coming into the season.
5. The SEC East is Florida’s to win but also wide open
Let’s address he elephant in the room.
That’s a really bad football team that Florida beat today. Tennessee is bad, but so is the rest of the SEC East. At the time this is being written South Carolina, who leads the conference was losing to Kentucky. A Kentucky team that. Missouri can’t spell defense and Georgia may have beat Notre Dame in prime time but that’s a 4-8 team from a year ago and how good is Notre Dame anyway.
Florida isn’t that much better than the rest of the east. The margin they play at because of how slow and inconsistent the offense has been is slim. They could lose on any given Saturday playing the way they have the first two games. The East is a mess, but at least Florida’s leading it at 1-0.