5 Thoughts from Gators 49-42 loss to LSU
It's time to change quarterbacks
Emory Jones joined Jeff Driskel in a quarterback stat, which isn't a good thing when it comes to playing football at the University of Florida.
Jones threw two interceptions Saturday afternoon, giving him nine on the season. That's the most a quarterback has thrown in a single season since Driskel threw 10 in 2014.
Richardson is young. He's going to mistakes. He's thrown three interceptions of his own this season, including one on Florida's final offensive possession of the game — an ill-advised pass while falling backward, the Gators' fourth interception of the afternoon. However, he's the future of the program and didn't exactly give a confident answer when asked if he could talk fans who are worried about the possibility that he would transfer off the ledge.
We wrote more extensively on the topic already here.
Emory Jones waited his turn and by most accounts was a good teammate. There were rumors that he thought about transferring during his first couple of seasons but he stuck it out and he has been given every opportunity to keep his starting job. At 4-3 Florida's season is over and they need to start preparing for the future. That starts with Anthony Richardson, not only keeping him happy but getting him the reps and experience he needs to be the starting quarterback in 2021.
Next year starts now.
Here are some "facts"
After the game, Dan Mullen was asked if he would make a defensive change in the middle of the season.
"I don’t like to jump to conclusions. It’s a long season stuff right there. I like to know the facts on everything that’s going on and what the issues are and what we’re doing and what we need to do to improve and how we’re going to do that.”
Here are some facts about Florida's season:
Tyrion Davis-Price entered the game with 287 rushing yards on 67 carries. He doubled his season total on Saturday with a school record 287 rushing yards.
LSU came into the game with a rushing attack that ranked next-to-last in the league and 127th nationally (out of 130 teams) at just 83.3 yards per game.
Florida is 2-6 in its last eight games against Power 5 opponents (more on that later) with those two wins coming against coaches in their first seasons at Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
The Gators were essentially eliminated from contending in the SEC East on October 2 and head into the bye week 4-3.
Florida's rushing offense, which was third in the country before the Kentucky game, has gone three straight games without 200-yard rushing.
Florida's lost three straight games to LSU.
And one last fact:
What is the Gator Standard?
If it wasn't simply a marketing ploy for a new head coach to sell some tickets right after he was hired then, please, tell me what it is?
The Gators have lost six of their last eight games against Power Five opponents. Do you know who did that? Jim McElwain went 4-6 in his last 10 games against Power 5 opponents. Will Muschamp once lost six games in a row to power five teams (2013). In his final 15 games against P5 opponents, Muschamp was just 4-11. Dan Mullen's career, which started off with comparisons to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer is now trending toward the fired football coaches he replaced.
In those games, Florida's opponents have averaged 32.3 points per game, which includes a shutout against Vanderbilt.
Mullen has explained away losses in the past. It wasn't the 2020 team that lost to Oklahoma, just ran out of time against Alabama in the SEC Championship, too many penalties against Kentucky, and letting one loss to Georgia turn into two against Missouri back in his first season.
What is the Gator Standard? Are we watching it?
Change is necessary on defense
Florida's defense hasn't been a trainwreck all season but and even getting torched by an LSU running game that hasn't been able to run all season isn't the reason change is needed.
When Mohamoud Diabate, a junior who has a 3.9 GPA and is thinking about applying to be a Rhodes scholar, a player who is as polite as any I have covered in nine years slyly bashes the coaching staff, you have problems.
It started off innocently.
"They ran a couple things that we hadn’t seen before that we didn’t know were coming," he said. They had a pretty good gameplan. I give them props. They have good players.”
Nothing to see here. Teams always hide or disguise things throughout a season, but what about making adjustments. Surely when LSU started to have some success there would be a change or a tweak, right?
"I mean we made the adjustments we were given to make.”
A reporter followed that answer by asking Diabate if he's confident in the defensive coaching staff.
“I’m confident in my teammates and my teammates' ability to play hard and be where they’re supposed to be. I’m confident in my teammates.”
Diabate is a respectful, intelligent, person. He thinks before he speaks and says what he means. If he, one of the leaders on your team, is going to answer the questions this way you need to take a long, hard look at what your defensive coaches are doing, how they're teaching, and if they still have the attention of their pupils.
"That’s not my decision to make," Diabate responded when asked if there were other adjustments that could have been made during the game. "I don’t look into those things. I’m like a soldier. When the general tells me where to shoot I shoot. I don’t really ask too many questions. That's y'alls job."
We did ask. Dan Mullen was asked if he'd make a change midseaosn, he balked. Now we're left waiting to see if the players will balk on the season like their coach did in his post game press conference.
Something positive
Florida wasn't penalized a single time on the road in Death Valley. The Gators were hit with eight last weekend against Vanderbilt and 15 the week before. Their previous low was four penalties against USF in the second week of the season.
Florida has gone five quarters without committing a penalty.
So, good job playing a clean football game in that regard.