1. Something has to change on defense.

One year ago, the Gators had the worst defensive performance in program history. Two defensive coaches were let go in cornerbacks coach Torrian Gray and safeties coach Ron English, but the defensive coordinator was retainedm leaving many to question Dan Mullen’s decision.

The defense seemed to improve a bit early in the season statistically, but if you watched the games, you know those numbers were fool’s gold. There were several occasions where opposing receivers were running open and just dropped passes. But the defensive performance we saw against LSU was worse than anything that was displayed in 2020.

At what point do you stop cycling through position coaches and realize you can’t keep shifting the blame? I don’t know what is going to happen moving forward, but we do know one thing: something has to change.

2. Anthony Richardson is the answer at quarterback moving forward.

The typical rule of thumb with position battles is if it’s close, go with the younger guy to build for the future and get him experience. Well, from what we get to see on Saturdays, it doesn’t look particularly close.

This is not a slight toward Emory, as he has done a solid job running and managing the offense at times throughout the year, but when Richardson is in and gets the full extent of the playbook, it just looks different and that was extremely evident yesterday.

The ball got out faster, the offense was more explosive, and he took them to four touchdowns on five second-half drives. And yes, he did make some bad throws that led to interceptions, but you can live with those growing pains from a second-year freshman. That pill gets a little harder to swallow when it’s a fourth-year junior making those same mistakes.