KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Leading up to the Florida Gators game against Tennessee Dan Mullen was asked about the spectacular finish from 2017. Rather than focusing on Feleipe Franks’ last second touchdown to Tyrie Cleveland Mullen shifted to something else. Florida had a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter and shouldn’t have needed the heave to Cleve to win the game.
Two years ago Florida jumped out of the starting blocks with a 21-0 lead only to have Tennessee come all the way back and win 38-28.
Florida didn’t know how to win. They got a lead and felt comfortable and it happened on more than one occasion.
“That stuck out to me,” Mullen said Monday prior to the game. “I was running the loop on the SEC Network one day or something, and I’m like why did we need to throw a Hail Mary with four minutes left in the game. We were up two scores. Let’s finish the game off.”
A similar situation began to play out on Saturday night. Florida was forced to punt on its first drive and then watched Tennessee pick up a first down. Florida’s defense stood up the Vols and forced a third and seven. Jachai Polite came off the line of scrimmage untouched and plowed into Jared Guarantano’s back as he tried to throw. The ball popped up into the air and into the waiting arms of David Reese, Florida’s junior middle linebacker who returned to the field for the first time this season after a high ankle sprain.
When Jachai Polite just makes hustle plays like that and you’re hustling to the quarterback also some things just pop into your hands,” Reese said. “I’m blessed by that one.”
Florida scored four plays later. The defense have them the ball right back when Luke Ancrum intercepted an attempted screen and the Gators made it 14-0 after Franks’ plunged into the end zone. Two turnovers, six plays, 14 points. The half finished with a Tennessee field goal followed by a Florida safety and field goal. It was a 26-3 lead at half but Florida had given up that amount the last time they were in Tennessee.
They needed to finish.
“Two years ago we were up 21-0 and we just knew coming back in the second half that we just had to keep going and not let up,” said Reese.
Tennessee received the ball to start the second half. Florida sophomore defensive back Brad Stewart came flying down the field and knocked the ball out of Shawn Shamburger’s hands. Brian Edwards recovered the ball and Jordan Scarlett took the very next snap 19-yards and into the end zone.
What happened the rest of the game was something we haven’t seen from Florida consistently. They put their foot on the gas and continued to be more physical, want it more and to outperform Tennessee in every single facet of the game.
West Virginia transfer Adam Shuler (9 tackles, 1 TFL) said they knew it after the very first series.
“You can always tell,” he said. “If they aren’t coming off the ball hard, you know you’re going to have a good game.”
Reese echoed that feeling.
“We were just hustling to the ball and it felt like the ball was just on our side,” he said. “I felt like we out-physicaled them, out-toughed them and we set that standard early in the game.”
There is still a lot of season left. Florida has the toughest portion of its schedule coming down up right now. This win on the road — Florida’s first win over a Power 5 opponent since Vanderbilt in 2017 — will give them a confidence boost.
Mullen won’t let their egos get out of control. He still sees deficiencies in every phase of the game with consistency being the biggest one.
“We’re getting better. The consistency has to improve though, you know, our consistency of performance,” Mullen said. “We can’t be like big explosive play, terrible play, big explosive, terrible, we went the wrong way, missed assignment, bad coverage, blown coverage, lost contain, line goes the wrong way, we start a series, penalty, penalty. You know, the mental toughness of the discipline of doing it right every single time is critical for us.”
Still, one of the biggest things that Mullen had to overcome with his football team was to get them to believe. To get them to expect to have performances like this where they enforce their will on another team, force turnovers and capitalize on them. The Gators are learning to have that killer instinct.