The 2020 offseason has been a chore.
Saturday the Florida Gators offered a reprieve from what has been the longest year that’s only three-quarters of the way through, I had to check to see if that was accurate because it feels like this year has actually been five.
For a little over three hours on Saturday Dan Mullen’s offense was a firework show. Kyle Pitts may be the best player in the country. Kyle Trask threw for Big 12 type numbers. Despite not really committing to the run, Florida still racked up 196 yards on the ground.
The Gators broke numerous opening game records including:
• Team Passing Yards: 446 (previous high was 430 against Marshall in 2001)
• Passing Yards: 416, Trask (previous high was 375 by Rex Grossman against Marshall in 2001)
• Field Goals Made: 3, tied by Evan McPherson (happened three previous times)
• Field Goal Long: 55, McPherson (previous long was 53 yards by Chris Perkins against Miami (Ohio) in 1983)
Now, take a beat, Ole Miss was the SEC’s worst passing defense a year ago. The Rebels allowed 278.3 yards-per-game through the air and gave up 20 passing touchdowns in 2018. They have a whole new staff but Gator fans know how good of a coach Ole Miss defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin is and how he can make chicken salad out of you know what.
The Gators’ offense lost four receivers to the NFL but threw for more yards than any Florida team since Tim Tebow’s final game in orange and blue. Kyle Pitts’ had a monstrous eight-reception, 170-yard, four-touchdown performance that has people already engraving his Mackey Award and wondering if a tight end could possibly win the Heisman? I’m here for it. Pitts became the third FBS tight end since the start of 1996 with 150-plus receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in a game.
It wasn’t just the Kyle and Kyle connection but the entire offense. Florida had 11 different players catch a pass, four different players rush for 30 yards or more and gained 642 yards — the most any Florida Gator team has ever amassed against an SEC opponent.
As fun as the offense was the defense was maddening at times.
The Gators really struggled tackling and getting off the field against Ole Miss. The Rebels converted 9-of-14 third downs and Florida missed more tackles than you can count on one hand.
“When you haven’t tackled; we’ve tackled twice since the Orange Bowl. Normally you’ve got a lot of spring ball, you’re getting physicality, you’re getting tackling,” Mullen said after the game. “We only did two in our scrimmages and they were spread out over this long period of time. We were down some guys defensively today; hopefully, we get some guys back for next week. You add all that together, just haven’t played a lot of football and you saw today.”
Maybe there’s some truth to that. Mullen isn’t shy with his words and he’ll tell it like it is when his team isn’t performing the way they should. If you’ve watched football over the last two weeks you know it’s been sloppy. One thing is for sure, Todd Grantham won’t be happy when he goes back to watch the film and the players won’t be happy when Grantham makes them watch it again on Sunday.
Florida needs to be better defensively. The goal for this team is to get to Atlanta and to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
The offense pulled its weight on Saturday. That performance is what a playoff team looks like on offense. The Gators scored points on their last seven drives of the game and on 9 of their 11 drives. They didn’t post a three-and-out the entire day.
The defense has talent. They just didn’t show up on Saturday. If Florida wants to get to Atlanta and if they want to have a chance at a playoff and National Championship they need their defense to look less like a Big 12 unit and more like the defenses that Florida puts out year in and year out.