COLUMBIA, SC — 10 takeaways from the Florida Gators 38-27 win over South Carolina.
1. Find a way to win
It wasn’t pretty, the weather or the game but the Gators, for the seventh time in eight tries found a way to win. Whether you buy into the coaching slogans or not it appears that the “hold the rope” mantra and the “don’t flinch” mottos are more than just words to the players in Florida’s football building. That’s what matters. South Carolina came out and punched the Gators in the mouth several times on Saturday. Florida wasn’t playing the brand of football they believe that can or should but they remained resilient. There’s no quit in this Gator football team and they continue to show that on a weekly basis.
2. Linebackers have to be better
Florida was gashed on the ground Saturday. The Gamecocks rushed for 217 yards — the most Florida has given up this season and a lot of that has to be put on the shoulders of the linebackers.
The Gamecocks had rushes of 37, 36, 21, 25, 14, 14 and 13 yards on Saturday. The linebackers were often out of position and not filling their gaps on Saturday and it showed. Georgia is going to run the ball and they’re not shy about wanting to do that. The linebackers need to show up in two weeks.
3. Maybe Emory Jones isn’t ready
Emory Jones came in and played for one play against South Carolina. That was by necessity. The play before Kyle Trask rushed up the middle, picking up a first down and his helmet came off.
Even with the offense puttering around in the rain in the first half Dan Mullen stuck with Kyle Trask.
Mullen was asked about Jones’ usage against South Carolina.
“We had some plays and some plans for him. Again, we were a little sloppy and there were times I’m like ‘oh, should we put him in and Kyle’s missed a couple reads, and we’ve called this play’ but then I’m sitting there like, I didn’t get him in early enough, he’s coming in, there’s a little bit of rain at different times, I want him having to come in to deal with it, and I know he would be fine, but, like I said, we have some plays, I just, it’s kind of a feel thing, it’s not a set thing. But I thought he did a great job, he was ready to go on every snap and, you know, we’ll see. We’ll get some time, get a plan, now we get a bye week too, we’ll get to look at some things and really kind of set aside, you know the coaching staff got time to really set aside and say ‘hey, here’s some ways and here’s some things we can get back to that we did maybe a long time ago that he can really hurt you with’.”
4. McPherson is nails
After years of Austin Hardin purgatory, the Florida Gators have been in kicking nirvana for four seasons.
Sophomore Evan McPherson connected on a 48-yard field goal Saturday giving him a career mark of 25-of-28 (26 if the referees could see against Kentucky last year). There are only three kickers with at least 25 attempts that have an 88% or better field goal percentage.
He’s also connected on 80-consecutive PATs. That is the fourth-longest streak in UF history and he’s 2 more in a row from passing Judd Davis and taking over the third spot.
5. Bye week couldn’t come at a better time
The Gators need to get healthy. They sorely miss Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga but Dan Mullen expects both of them back in two weeks against Georgia. They’ve played seven straight weeks, two top-10 teams. It’s been a mentally, physically and emotionally draining stretch for the team and they need this week off.
6. Jacob Copeland
Three catches. 89 yards. 1 TD
It’s been a long time coming but Jacob Copeland had a major impact on the game and the win this week. He’s maturing and getting better and he’ll continue to impact games moving forward.
7. SEC officials
It’s bad.
The officials aren’t biased towards one team or the other but there has to be something done to hold officials accountable. Gator Country has called and left messages to the league office with questions about play calls or how things are done and there has been no response. In the first half, there were several missed called that hurt Florida. On Dameon Pierce’s 75-yard touchdown Jean Delance should have been called for a false start and Tyrie Cleveland had a handful of a cornerback’s jersey for about 30 of those yards. The SEC is the premier league in college football and the level of the referees should match it, not embarrass it.
Will Muschamp went ballistic on a referee in the fourth quarter when it appeared that Josh Hammond threw a pick, allowing Kyle Pitts to score a touchdown. The student section threw towels and water bottles down onto the field in protest. It was an ugly scene.
8. Young guys stepping up
The injuries that Florida has had to endure have made their younger players grow up quickly. Mohamoud Diabate played a ton on Saturday. So did Khris Bogle. Sophomore Dameon Pierce broke off a 75-yard touchdown run and Kyle Pitts continued his reception streak. The tight end has at least four receptions in six straight games and hauled in his team-leading fourth touchdown catch.
9. Dan Mullen in rare air
Dan Mullen is the 5th head coach in Florida history to win 17 of his first 21 games:
Galen Hall (1984-86) 18-2-1
Steve Spurrier (1990-91) 18-3
Charles Bachman (1928-29) 18-3
Urban Meyer (2005-06) 17-4
Dan Mullen (2018-19) 17-4
10. Stats of Note
Dameon Pierce’s 75-yard touchdown run was the 24th rushing play of at least 75 yards in UF history, and it was the third the season – which sets a single-season school record (Lamical Perine – 88-yard touchdown run vs. Auburn o Josh Hammond – 76-yard touchdown run at Kentucky)
Florida also has four rushing touchdowns of 30-plus yards this season
-From 2015-17, Florida totaled two rushing touchdowns of 30-plus yards
-The last time UF had at least four rushing touchdowns of 30-plus yards was 2014 (five)
Kyle Trask is the first Gator since Tim Tebow to throw four touchdown passes in a road game (Tebow threw four at No. 8 Kentucky on Oct. 20, 2007 o The only other Gators to accomplish the feat since 1996 are: Danny Wuerffel (three times); Rex Grossman (twice), Doug Johnson (twice), and Chris Leak (once)
Copeland also became the eight Gator to eclipse 150 receiving yards this season, marking the first time since 1992 UF had eight different players with 150-plus receiving yards