COLUMBIA, Mo. — This is a game that has plagued the Florida Gators. It was cold. It was early. It was Missouri, a team that had befuddled the Florida Gators the previous two years and four of the last six.
It even started the same way, the slow, weird kind of games that Missouri has ended up beating Florida in the past. It was eerily similar to the last time Josh Hammond was in Memorial Stadium.
Two years ago Jim McElwain had just been fired. The Gators had been blown out by Georgia, fired its head coach and promoted Randy Shannon to head coach. That game, like this one, as an 11 a.m. local kick. It was cold and grey and Missouri beat the breaks off of Florida winning 45-16. This year it started slow, Florida took a 6-3 lead into halftime and there was nervous energy. Missouri was hanging around, largely because of Florida penalties and offensive miscues.
Not this year though. This is a different team and they turned it on in the second half, scoring 14 in the third quarter on the way to a 23-6 win to finish the SEC schedule 6-2.
“It felt good to come back here after what happened two years ago,” Hammond said. “We came here and got blown out with coaches getting fired. It felt good to come here and end on the right note.”
This team has found multiple ways to win football games. They’ve blown teams out, won by shutout, have come back multiple times and, Saturday they added a new one. They avoided potential pitfalls during a punting exhibition in the first half and stayed patient. Early in the first half, Kyle Trask would find Josh Hammond for 34-yards and a touchdown. Not too long after he found Lamical Perine for another score and the game was essentially over given how stifling Florida’s defense was playing.
“We have had a couple of games like this where it’s a little slow start this season. I think it’s taught out guys just to stick with it. That’s why we’re never panicking, especially in a situation like this when it’s so low scoring at halftime. Seems like there’s not a lot of positive going on because the scoreboard is so low. I’m just really proud of our guys sticking with the game plan,” Trask said. “Eventually we got it rolling. Obviously, you want to start a little faster, but it’s good to see us stick with the game plan and eventually getting it going and never panic.”
Let’s talk about Trask and the maturity of this team. Florida just finished the SEC season 6-2 and is projected to win 10 games this regular season before a chance at an 11-win season with a bowl game. They’ve done all of that with their starting quarterback playing 11 quarters of football. That’s it.
That would be enough to cripple a less mature football team. Florida took the punch on the chin and just kept moving. They kept figuring things out and finding ways to win.
“Our guys have bought in,” Mullen said. “Just worry about the plays you’re on the field. You go to Perine, roll out, good. You look at Tyrie Cleveland, go cover kicks, right? Look at the DBs, hey, worry about the plays you’re on the field, the safeties, roll those guys through. Young corners get a chance, be ready to go play when your numbers called, and that’s it. Look at Emory Jones, we run him, go run on the field as hard as you can, do the best as you can, run off the field. When guys buy into that, you have a lot of success, and that’s part of the success that we’ve had to be able to deal with the injuries because guys have bought into the other part of it.”
This team has a lot of veteran leadership on it. Jon Greenard has been a godsend and players like Josh Hammond, Freddie Swain, Tyrie Cleveland, David Reese, and Van Jefferson have taken vocal leadership roles. They’re a tight group, one that you don’t think twice about when they say they’re brothers. It’s believable. It feels genuine and real.
The 2019 Florida Gators football team has been dealt a hand that would have crippled a lot of teams. They’re basically playing with, due to transfer and injury, around 60 scholarship players. It’s hard to win football games with a full 85 on scholarship. Florida’s next man up mentality and maturity have saved the season.