3-2-1: Sunday thoughts on Florida's win over Tennessee

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* The Day After Breakdown

* Notebook: Thrilling ending to a must win game

* Cleveland: "Give me a chance."

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* Instant Analysis: Thrill of victory

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Following a thrilling 26-20 win over Tennessee, Inside the Gators now reviews the past week with a 3-2-1 report. We provide three observations, present two questions and make one prediction as the Gators head into a match-up with Kentucky next Saturday.

1. This is Feleipe Franks’ team.

After Saturday’s thrilling finish it is obvious that Franks is this team’s quarterback moving forward, but it was only two weeks ago that Franks was pulled in favor of graduate quarterback Malik Zaire. Head coach Jim McElwain is in his third season at Florida, and in both home contests against Tennessee, the quarterback competition has been put to bed.

Two years ago, Will Grier followed up a come-from-behind win over the Volunteers with the best game of his brief UF career. It would be unfair to expect Franks to go 24-of-29 passing and throw four touchdowns next Saturday, but it is fair to expect to continue to improve upon what was overall a decent performance (18-of-28, 212 yards, 2 TD, INT). Securing the job should give Franks a significant boost in confidence with two games under his belt.

Franks made some poor decisions on Saturday and sometimes overlooked open receivers. At times, there was even chatter in the press box and on social media about the possibility of seeing redshirt junior Luke Del Rio. McElwain stuck with Franks and any questions surrounding Florida’s quarterback have been answered. With the game-winning touchdown throw, this became Franks’ team.

2. Opposite of what was expected, the pass defense is ahead of the rushing defense:

Throughout the off-season, one of Florida’s biggest concerns was having to play true freshmen in the secondary. With a front seven made up of mostly returning starters and veteran backups, the run defense was thought to be less of a concern.

The pass defense, however, has exceeded expectations. Florida is currently tied with Vanderbilt and Alabama for first in the SEC in interceptions (5) despite having played one less game. Freshmen cornerbacks Marco Wilson and CJ Henderson more than held their own against Tennessee’s receivers. Henderson made a play on a tipped ball and recorded his second pick-six of the season.

3. Freshman athlete Kadarius Toney should become a big part of this offense.

In the first two seasons under McElwain, junior wide receiver Antonio Callaway, currently suspended, was the team’s best pass-catcher and its biggest playmaker. In Callaway’s absence, sophomore wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland has stepped up as the team’s top pass-catcher, but he has not shown himself to be a receiver who can turn a routine catch into a touchdown like Callaway.

On Saturday, we saw a glimpse of a potential Callaway-like playmaker in Toney (4 catches, 40 yards; 1 rush, 5 yards). In the second quarter, Toney caught a pass just beyond the line of scrimmage in the second quarter and danced and juked his way into a 19-yard gain. On social media, fans went wild over Toney’s “ankle-breaking” moves and one college football analyst even made a comparison to Gator great Percy Harvin.

The Harvin comparison is going a bit overboard two games in, but it’s hard not to imagine what might be if the method of getting the ball to Toney were simplified. As Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen demonstrated, sometimes it’s easier to hand the ball to your most electric runner than to throw it to them.