If there’s one consistent thing about the 2020 season, it’s that I don’t know exactly what to think after games. I’m even going to set aside the halftime fight because the SEC hadn’t made any announcements about any repercussions as of last night when I set this newsletter up to publish.
I will just say it’s always disappointing to see altercations like that since they don’t ever seem to accomplish anything but sidelining players due to disciplinary actions. It’s a bad look on the players, coaches, and university. I get feeling the need to protect the quarterback and that a flag from the refs probably would’ve kept things from boiling over. I also don’t think from the replay that it was a particularly notable hit, a little late but not dirty in its placement (e.g. a shot at the head or knees) and not out of the ordinary for normal play. That gets flagged maybe 65% of the time, more often than not but not automatically.
Anyway, Florida came out rusty on offense as could be expected for how long the layoff was. Dan Mullen talked about that for maybe a third of his postgame interview, even revealing that “half” of the starting offensive line didn’t practice until Wednesday. Protection was a real issue early on, as Kyle Trask kept having to adjust himself or escape pressure and get rid of the ball earlier than he’d like.
As the offense settled back in, and especially after the line found its bearings again, Trask found his groove and carved up the Mizzou defense the same as any other this year. It was good to see him and his teammates not get rattled by anything and just keep with it until things started flowing again.
The hurries of Trask early on were a real worry because Missouri’s defensive line is thin and of generally questionable quality at the moment. It’s been hit with a rash of injuries and opt outs to the point that they were experimenting with two-lineman sets at points earlier this season. If that Tiger front was able to get in Trask’s face, heaven help him against Georgia. Thankfully, it really did seem to be a matter of the line not playing together for two-and-a-half weeks.
The defense legitimately looked better too, not the least because they got a green light to play more aggressively. I think the holding flag on Kaiir Elam was bogus, but he actually was close enough on a receiver to pick up a holding flag on a third down. You generally don’t get flagged for holding if you’re giving a five-plus yard cushion until after the catch is made.
I think everyone could see that it did make a difference having Kyree Campbell. Everything just works better with him and Tedarrell Slaton in the middle and Zach Carter and Brenton Cox on the edges. Campbell won the starting role last year for a reason, not by default. He’s a really good player, and Florida missed him in the first three games.
That’s not to say that everything was solved. Connor Bazelak, as you’d expect for a redshirt freshman, doesn’t make it too far down his reads. There were some open receivers who didn’t get throws on top of the open receivers who did get throws.
The bust on Jalen Knox’s deep drop stands out as a particularly dangerous bullet that UF dodged. I think Brad Stewart saves the touchdown in bailing out Rashad Torrence, and yeah, that’ll happen with a true freshman back there. Torrence did have a good game overall, I think; I’ll have to look at the film to confirm but only that play sticks out to me as a bad one right now. Knox in that moment wasn’t the only Tiger receiver to let one slip to the turf, so as with the South Carolina game, UF’s defense got some assists from the offense.
But help or no, the Gator defense still had a better day across the board than it did against the Gamecocks. They allowed Mizzou only a pair of field goal attempts before the bench emptied and the play-by-play starts crediting tackles to walk-ons. They managed to do it despite missing four members of the secondary. Reserves like Torrence and Jaydon Hill took some lumps but overall the level of play was if anything the highest it’s been all year. There’s a real case to give Torrence a good number of the snaps that Donovan Stiner has been getting.
It’s tempting to want to take this performance and project ahead to the upcoming game against Georgia, especially since the Bulldogs didn’t look all that fearsome in a soporific 14-3 win over Kentucky, but one game never tells you everything you need to know. Especially in 2020.
It may be that there’s enough film on Stetson Bennett now that defenses can tell his tendencies. I saw a lot of folks suggesting that on Saturday. We’ll see, but he has the arm and targets to gain a lot of yards on a too-flammable Gator secondary. He won’t miss as many throws as Bazelak did two days ago. There will need to be more consistent play from an earlier point out of UF’s offensive line, that’s for sure. May the rust be definitively off for the rest of the season.
It was good to see the Gators get north of 40 points again, and there were more signs of life from the defense in this one than any other game so far. The team definitely needed Missouri as a tune-up game after the time off before facing Georgia. It’s now time for them to get ready to play their best overall game of the year.