When Jorge Masvidal knocked out Ben Askren with a flying knee six seconds into their fight Masvidal had to be pulled off of Askren after delivering a few more punches. After the fight, Masvidal was asked if those punches to a seemingly unconscious opponent were necessary. “What do you mean? They were super necessary,” Masvidal retorted.
The saying goes, good teams win, great teams cover. Great teams also can smell blood in the water and will finish teams well before the clock hits double zero.
Right now the Florida Gators are 2-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country. That’s pretty good but they haven’t developed that killer instinct yet.
Last Saturday senior Kadarius Toney slipped through the entire South Carolina defense on the way to a 57-yard score to put Florida up 38-14 with less than 18 minutes of the game left to play. After that Florida’s offense turned the ball over with an interception and punted. The defense struggled to get off the field and it resulted in South Carolina being able to hold on to the ball for most of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got to understand, when you get the big leads, getting off the field is not just about third down, it is about third down and fourth down,” Mullen said. “Middle of the third quarter… they were a four-down team. You have to make two plays to get off the field instead of one. You’re a stop, or a score away really from the game being completely out of reach and a lot of backups even playing. And that was disappointing that we didn’t do that.
“We just kind of cruised the finish line.”
Not closing out the game when you had the chance to means Florida wasn’t able to get younger players in the game. In a season where injuries and a virus could take any player out any given week, getting players’ experience is vital. We’ve seen how much the Gators are rolling players through. Not finishing South Carolina when they had the chance robbed them of that opportunity. If Florida would have gotten a stop and assure to make the game 41-14 or 45-14 we could have seen Anthony Richardson take some snaps at quarterback. Maybe we would have seen Derek Wingo get involved on defense?
Florida has the potential to be a special team this season. Offensively they look like they can score with the best of them but they haven’t put it all together yet. Last week Alabama punched Texas A&M in the face and didn’t stop until they were pulled off the Aggies. Every time Auburn tried to make a comeback against Georgia the Dawgs had an answer. Those are the two teams that have last played for an SEC Championship. Like it or not, that’s who the Gators are chasing and those two teams know how to end a team when the opportunity presents itself.
“OK, 38-14, we got this one kind of in the bag. I know we’ve got to keep playing, but let’s go through the motions.’ You can’t do that. I just think it’s maybe a side effect of everything going on right now. Just part of the whole deal. It’s something that we talked about (Monday) morning as a team,” Mullens said. “It comes from practice. It’s got to be addressed at practice. It’s got to be addressed on how we practice. It’s got to be addressed with every aspect and every member of the team, start to finish the effort we give and the looks we give, whether I’m on the scout team, whether I’m a backup or I’m a starter. It’s got to start at practice with just that mindset of complete while we’re playing, everything we do, maximum effort to finish.”
It’s being addressed on the practice field but Florida needs to show it on the field each Saturday. They’re talented enough to challenge for a championship. They’re no longer the 4-7 team Mullen inherited. They have talent, they have Heisman contenders, they have great coaching. They’ve won 23 games since Mullen took over but it’s time to take the next step. When an opponent gives you an opportunity to take them out, make sure the ref is the one pulling you off of them, don’t take anything for granted.