The Florida Gators are back on CBS in what should be the first top-10 matchup in The Swamp since 2012 (vs. South Carolina) when they host Auburn. HBO is in town shooting a behind the scenes show for a revamped college football 24/7 series that will premier on October 2. It’s an exciting game, the first trip to Gainesville for the Tigers since 2007 and, what’s that? That’s not this week?
Oh, well, this is awkward.
This weekend the Florida Gators will host Townsend? Like Tommy Townsend? The punter? That can’t be right.
Third time’s a charm
This weekend the Florida Gators will host (checks notes), Towson.
The Tigers are no slouch. They started last week as the No. 5 FCS team in the country before a narrow overtime loss to Villanova knocked them down to 10. It’s still easy for a team like Florida to overlook an FCS opponent when there is a potentially huge game down the line (Auburn needs to get past Mississippi State this week).
Dan Mullen knows his team can’t afford to overlook any opponent.
“Obviously, there will be a lot more hype on next weeks’ game, national hype, it will be the CBS game of the week. But for us to even have an opportunity to win that game, we have got to improve this week.”
Every player on Florida’s roster comes to school with the expectation of playing in big games; CBS’ National Game of The Week is one of those. In order to play in those types of games, you can’t lose games like this week. If you’re afraid of the big stage, go ahead and lose this week. It will take a lot of pressure off next week.
Last week Dan Mullen applauded Florida’s preparation for Tennessee. That was an easy week to get up for with a rival coming to town. How will the Gators prepare this week?
“If we don’t continue to take a step forward with that this week, it’ll show. And it’ll show not just this week; it’ll show the next week and the week after that and the week after that as you continue to move forward,” Mullen said. “So I think that’s the message for the guys, is you can’t, I mean we have great goals for this season, for the team. And they all include continually improving from one week to the next. And that’s got to be the focus.”
Mullen and his staff continually preach living up to the Gator standard. That’s not just on the field on Saturday but in everything they do. That’s the focus this week. It’s not the opponent or what classification they are in. the focus is on Florida. What are the Gators doing to get better this week? What can they do in practice or the weight room, or in the film room to get a little better this week than they were last week?
“It’s on our exact attention to detail and our development and our improvement from one day to the next of getting better. And that’s what we can control and that’s what we need to worry about,” Mullen said. “If we’re worried about other things, we’re worried about the wrong thing and we’re not going to be able to accomplish the goals we have as a team.”
You come to Florida to play in big games but if you don’t win the games you’re supposed to win you’ll never have the opportunity to play in those marquee matchups.