Rocky Flop second half dooms Florida Gators

There won’t be a dozen straight wins over Tennessee, but there are dozens of reasons the Florida Gators (3-1, 1-1 SEC) lost to the Tennessee Volunteers (4-0, 1-0 SEC) 38-28 on Saturday in Knoxville.

A 21-point first half lead that seemed insurmountable. The Gators’ defense was stout, creating a turnover on downs and an interception in the red zone. The offense was firing on all cylinders.

On the third play of the game Austin Appleby fired a 51-yard pass to Antonio Callaway. Two plays later Appleby connected with DeAndre Goolsby for a touchdown.

“I thought Austin played pretty darn good for what we asked him to do,” McElwain said.

Appleby, predictably, wasn’t asked to do too much and in the first half it was working. Appleby completed 4-of-5 pass attempts for 74 yards on the Gators’ second scoring drive that spanned 93 yards on nine plays. He was dialed in.

The Gators’ Quincy Wilson intercepted Josh Dobbs in the end zone on the back end of a 14-play, 68-yard Tennessee drive and Appleby went back to work.

20 yards to Antonio Callaway, 36 more to Tyrie Cleveland and before you know it Florida is back in the red zone, going in again. Jordan Scarlett capped off the 8-play drive with a one-yard touchdown. Up 21-0 Florida was feeling good. A Tennessee field goal to cut the score to 21-3 didn’t dissuade that feeling either.

At the halfway point Florida had already amassed 300 yards on 34 plays. The defense held Dobbs’ crew to just 162 yards and had created a turnover. Dobbs was just 7-of-21 and Jalen Hurd had just 40 yards on 12 carries.

The game was so out of hand that fans already began asking is there was a quarterback controversy, joking about what school Luke Del Rio would transfer to next.

Then they went into the locker room.

“I felt like we were a little lax,” running back Mark Thompson said of the team at halftime. “We didn’t have the same intensity that we had in the first half, and it showed.”

Did it ever. Tennessee came out in the second half and dropped 38 unanswered points on Florida. It’s biggest point differential Florida has given away in a loss since 2003.

The Gators’ offense that had moved both methodically when it needed to and hit Tennessee for seven explosive plays in the first half died, punting on each of its first four possessions in the second half, an interception on the fifth drive ended the punting streak.

After a Jalen Tabor interception ended Tennessee’s opening drive of the half the Volunteers went off for 336 yards of offense, more than double its output in the first half.

“I think maybe as a team we got a little content that we were up 21-3 at the half,” junior cornerback Quincy Wilson said. “We just, I don’t know, we just started feeling like we could get away with not doing what we were doing to win, to get up like we were up.”

The turning point of the game was the third quarter. Florida ran just 11 plays to Tennessee’s 19. Every Florida drive was the same, three plays and a punt. Tennessee scored 14 points.

“They wore it down pretty good and then obviously they hit us with the explosive plays. I think to me, it’s not what it does to our offense. It’s what it does to our team. That’s the thing,” McElwain said. “We did a pretty good job of that stuff in the first half and created some explosives ourselves and yet really had no explosive plays in the second half.”

There weren’t many answers to be had after the game. McElwain doesn’t know how his team will respond to being physically dominated for the final 30 minutes of the game Saturday. The season won’t stop and wait for the team to feel sorry for itself. Vanderbilt won’t care if the Gators come in next week with less of an edge, they’d prefer it.

“I think what it does is really test who you are as a person, really test who you are as a man,” said McElwain. “In loss, in failure, some of the greatest lessons you can ever learn about who you are and what you’re all about are taught.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

1 COMMENT

  1. The tale of two Halves…

    The unfortunate reality is the team mentally quit, consequently, our momentum stopped and shifted in Tenn favor-big time. (Tenn on the other hand, did not quit) This might sound critical but…if you get complacent because you’re up a few points the other team can sense that. That tiny little mental edge is the difference between winning and being at the top, or having to accept mediocrity and disappointment. Do you really think that our players are that much better than theirs? This is the SEC…It’s about team work and not selling out on the guy next to you. Tenn smelled blood in the water and turned it into a bloodbath and old fashion ass-woopin’. This Gator team did this last year with Bama, FSU and Michigan. Those are good teams…but quit was written all over the Gators effort in those games. Unfortunately, this game reflected the same mind-set. In the second half I speak of. You know, where the game was lost.

    I’m a true believer this team can beat anyone in the country if they are mentally prepared to do so. Beside being complacent in the second half, there were some mental lapses that were baffling. A few coaching choices were questionable as well. Even the players knew their errors and tweeted about it. Some made a pledge to turn it around.

    Now we’ll see what kids are the leaders. At the end of the day, all we really have is our word, let’s see if they can now do what they ‘ say’ they’re going to do. I have all the confidence in the world they can. We’ll see. Adversity and a total breakdown can make us stronger. Providing we make the necessary adjustments in review. Go Gators.