The Florida Gators are not a perfect team, but they current have more wins than Willie Taggart’s, Scott Frost’s, and Chip Kelly’s teams combined.
They may not be the sexiest team, but they are finding ways to win, in ways that previous coaches weren’t able to do. Whether its turnovers, special teams, or finally collecting passing touchdowns – the Gators have won three different ways this season.
After winning 47-21 over the Tennessee Volunteers, the Gators have won two straight games scoring over 40 points, something they haven’t done 2009 and are two-thirds of the way to scoring as many points (164) as they did last season (243), just one-third of the way through the season.
In their most lopsided victory over Tennessee since 2008, the Gators are now 26th in the county in scoring offense and 19th in scoring defense, just nine months after the Gators finished 108th and 69th in those respective categories last season.
The season is still long, and a lot can and will happen, but the Gators are starting to look like a team that is well-coached, executing well, and could be a threat the SEC race quicker than previously expected.
The Gators, statistically, are doing well, so let’s look behind the numbers a bit.
- The Gators have 12 passing touchdowns on the season, which is already two more than they had all last season.
- Feleipe Franks ranks 7th in the country in touchdown passes and is tied with Tua Tagovailoa for first in the SEC.
- Franks is throwing touchdowns on nearly 21% of his pass completions.
- Freddie Swain ranks fourth in the country in reception average – 24.13 yards per completion. Dameon Pierce ranks sixth in the country in yards per carry – 10.71
- Despite some positive offensive production, they still rank 96th in the country in total offense.
- The Gators rank first in the county in total turnovers caused (14) and rank second in the county in turnover margin. The Gators +5 turnover margin was the most they’ve had since 2014 against Eastern Michigan (+5).
- The Gators are scoring points, mainly in the second and fourth quarter, but rank 121st in third quarter scoring offense, averaging just 2.3 points on the season.
- Amongst teams that have played four games, the Gators rank last in number of plays on offense.
- The Gators are balanced on offense – only 22 yards separates rushing (756) from passing (778).
- The Gators rank 29th in offensive yards per play with 6.67. They ranked 100th last season with a 5.19 yard average.
- Adam Shuler had a career high in tackles.
- The six fumbles forced over the last two games are the most the Gators have had in a two game stretch since 2011.