The Week That Was: Five thoughts on the Tennessee game

The No. 10 Gators defeated Tennessee 38-14 in the Swamp on Saturday night to pick up their first SEC win of the season.

Here are my five biggest thoughts on the week that was.

1. The slow starts are concerning.

Last week, the Gators fell behind 21-3 to Alabama in the first quarter. This week, they trailed Tennessee 14-10 in the second quarter.

Thanks in part to the energy that their fans supplied, the Gators were able to overcome those poor starts to beat the Volunteers and give themselves a chance to beat Alabama.

However, what would happen if they were to fall behind by a couple of scores at Kentucky this week? Would they still be able to rally in the second half, or would Kentucky’s home crowd generate enough momentum to keep that from happening?

That’s what makes this a dangerous way to play. If you keep falling behind early, you’re going to get steamrolled eventually.

Most of the responsibility for starting faster falls on the defense. The offense has scored on three of its four opening drives, and the only time they failed to score, they scored a touchdown on their second possession.

The defense needs to figure out how to tackle in space in the first quarter.

2. Dan Mullen has adjusted his offense to mask Emory Jones’ weaknesses.

When Jones tossed four interceptions and threw into double and triple coverage at times in the first two games, it looked like Mullen was asking him to go through multiple reads and make the right decisions the way he did with Kyle Trask the last two years.

Jones often didn’t make his decisions quickly enough, which resulted in the interceptions.

From my view three stories above Spurrier-Florida Field, it appears that Mullen has simplified things for Jones during the last two games. They’re not running a bunch of complex routes that require precise timing and advanced decision-making.

Instead, Mullen has put Jones in positions where he just has to read one or two defenders and throw the ball quickly or tuck it and run. In particular, they’ve had a bunch of success running those play-action rollouts.

The simplified passing game allows Jones to use his biggest strength – his legs – while hiding his biggest weakness – his decision-making on the intermediate routes.

Mullen has spoken several times over the past couple of weeks about how Jones taking over as the starter has been a transition for him as well. He’s still learning what plays work best for Jones.

Mullen used the first two games that they were all but guaranteed to win as a test of sorts to see where Jones is at. Now that they’re playing better opponents, he’s cutting out some of the things that he struggles with.

3. Trent Whittemore’s touchdown pass to Kemore Gamble was the biggest play of the game.

At the time, the Gators were only leading 17-14. They were moving the ball down the field with ease on their opening drive of the second half, but they also did that on their final drive of the first half before Jacob Copeland fumbled the ball away.

So, there was still an uneasy feeling permeating throughout the stadium. Between the turnover, key injuries, busted coverages and missed tackles, the game was feeling eerily similar to the LSU debacle last year.

When Whittemore caught the backward pass from Jones and threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Gamble, you could just feel the entire stadium relax and breathe a sigh of relief. You just knew that the Gators were going to win from that point forward.

Up to that point, the Gators had moved the ball fairly efficiently, but they hadn’t really done anything exciting. Whittemore and Gamble changed that and paved the way for a second half filled with explosive plays.

4. Ty’Ron Hopper played a great game.

Because the Volunteers like to get the ball out of their quarterback’s hand quickly and into their playmakers’ hands in space, this was a great matchup for linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Hopper is a former high school defensive back who still needs to get better at stopping the run.

He didn’t start the game, but he played early and often and made a career-high seven tackles. He also broke up a pass and was credited with half of a sack. He played tight coverage throughout the night and always seemed to be in the middle of the action.

Kentucky is more of a running team, so he might not duplicate those stats next week, but he should continue to have a major role on this defense moving forward.

5. The depth in the secondary isn’t good.

The starting five of Kaiir Elam, Avery Helm, Tre’Vez Johnson, Trey Dean and Rashad Torrence has played all right for the most part this season.

Sure, they give up some catches now and then and struggle to tackle at times like the rest of the defense, but you can depend on them to be where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there.

But once they put some of the backups in there, things go south quickly. Backup safety Mordecai McDaniel got caught with his eyes in the backfield and gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass that was so wide open that half of everybody in attendance could’ve made the throw.

They’re already banged up in the secondary. Projected starting cornerback Jaydon Hill is out for the year with a torn ACL, and Elam is recovering from a sprained knee. If they lose one more starter for any length of time and have to rely heavily on some of these young players, this could become a hard secondary to watch.

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.