The Florida Gators football team regained control of the SEC East with a dominating 40-14 win over Missouri on Saturday. The score doesn’t show it, but it was not an offensive showing by any stretch. That’s just Florida football right now, it’s not always going to be pretty.
The Gators got the job done against Missouri, but now we will take a closer look into the good and the bad to take away from the game.
Losses
It’s hard to complain too much after throwing up 40 points, but the Missouri game was far from a perfect homecoming performance. There’s still plenty for the Gators to work on over the bye week.
LOSS #1: Luke Del Rio looked like he hadn’t played in a month (weird, right?)
Del Rio played his first snaps since going down in the North Texas game four weeks ago, and it was to be expected for him to be a little rusty. He was. Del Rio finished the day 18-of-38 passing for 236 yards and just one passing touchdown. The biggest things for him were issues he has dealt with in nearly every game he’s played, poor decision making and underthrows on passes downfield. He threw three interceptions and several more of his throws could have been picked off as well. A better defense could have eaten Del Rio for dinner.
Luckily for Del Rio and the Gators, he now has two more weeks to get back into the swing of things before he takes the field again. Following the game, he said his knee did not affect him at all, but he was favoring his knee following plays throughout the game. It is understandable that he could’ve been nervous to take hits, since the last time he took a hit his season almost came to an end. Del Rio can have a pass this week, but his knee will no longer be an excuse to lean on moving forward.
LOSS #2: “Prior to the snap, false-start, offense” was on replay
Penalties have been a concern for Florida all season. It’s something that has been an issue for years, and it’s not getting any better. The frustrating thing about the Missouri game was eight of the 11 penalties called on the Gators were false-start penalties. It was like the two teams were competing to see who could get the most false-starts in the game. Florida won. Three of those false-starts were called on one of Florida’s most experienced offensive linemen, David Sharpe, a player who has been struggling in general.
False-starts are simply a discipline problem, and it is unacceptable for the Gators to have eight in one game. Much of the blame for that can be put on coaching. Coaching and discipline from the players have to get better.
LOSS #3: Lack of production in the red-zone
Scoring touchdowns in the red-zone is another issue the Gators have dealt with all year. Settling for field goals in the red-zone has become a bad habit. Florida did drive the ball down the field for a majority of the game against Mizzou, but only came away with one touchdown in the red-zone on a 20-yard pass from Del Rio to Tyrie Cleveland.
Had Florida leaned on the run more, offensive production in the red-zone likely would have come. It was understandable to give Del Rio more passing opportunities in his first game back for him to get comfortable again, but the rushing game is the key for Florida’s offensive success throughout the remainder of the season.
Wins
The wins column is just as full as the losses column this week, as the Gators’ defense once again proved why it is arguably the best in the country and the running game is continuing to make strides.
WIN #1: The defense is just really, really good.
Besides the second half against Tennessee, this defense has played lights out for pretty much the entire season. It’s just a matter of fact, Florida’s offense does not have all of the weapons just yet for the Gators to have success without great defensive play. Well, defensive play was great on Saturday. Mizzou’s first six possessions were quick three-and-outs. Their next two possessions ended with six points for Florida, thanks to the dynamic duo of Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson. The Gators held Drew Lock, the SEC’s top passer who entered the game averaging 355 passing yards per game, to just 4-of-18 passing for 39 yards. The rest of the Tigers’ 98 passing yards came from backup quarterback Marvin Zanders.
While injuries of Joey Ivie, Bryan Cox, and most recently Jarrad Davis have plagued Florida’s defense, it has continued to dominate as usual. Since the bad half at Tennessee, the passing defense has been close to flawless. Run defense should be the point of focus now as the Gators prepare to play teams who lean heavily on the run in the coming weeks in Georgia and LSU.
WIN #2: Lamical Perine and Jordan Scarlett are special
Perine and Scarlett have continued to significantly separate themselves from the other running backs over the last few games, and the two of them separated themselves even more on Saturday. Perine put on the second 106-yard performance of his freshman campaign averaging 9.6 yards per carry, while Scarlett got 101 yards himself averaging 8.4 yards per carry for the first 100-yard game of his career. While those two players led the Gators rushing attack, the run game was just strong in general against Missouri. Florida put up 287 rushing yards on the Tigers’ defense. Mark Thompson has struggled this season, but was just behind Perine and Scarlett, with 65 yards in his 10 carries.
It should be just a matter of time before this running back rotation thing comes to an end, but that’s what most of us have thought for a while now. Whether that happens or not, Perine and Scarlett have the potential to be huge factors in Florida’s production.
WIN #3: Eddy, Eddy, Eddy!
Eddy Pineiro missed wide right by about an inch in his first field goal attempt of the game, but was perfect from there on out. In his next attempt, he put one right through the uprights from 53 yards out, making him the first Florida kicker to make multiple 50-plus yard field goals in a season since Caleb Sturgis in 2012. He was perfect again on a 24 yarder the next drive.
If anything bothers Pineiro, it is impossible to tell. Mindset is huge for kickers and it looks like Florida has finally found a kicker who has both the leg talent and the right mindset in Pineiro. He is not perfect, nor should we expect him to be, but he comes through when it matters and is accountable, which is what the Gators have been missing in a kicker for a long time.