GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida football program took another step forward in 2019 and the Gators senior class played a huge role in that.
" I thanked all of them, every single one of them, I thanked them, I said thanks for believing in me," Gators head coach Dan Mullen said after Florida's 40-17 win over Florida State. "They played hard for the Gators.
"I’m very thankful for them to believe in me. And it’s a great honor for guys to do that.”
Yes, this group did secure Florida's first home win over the Noles in a decade, and yes, they did help UF secure one more win in the regular season in 2019. However, this group did much more.
On Saturday, the seniors were making plays in every phase of the game. Not only were the veterans on defense making stops, the playmakers on offense were shining, recording four touchdowns in the win.
“This is what we wanted to do, wanted to come out there, just make plays for the fans, for our teammates, just put on a show for the fans and just leave out making a difference," wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland said.
"It just shows that we're going with our strengths," wide receiver Josh Hammond said about the change on offense. "We've been successful passing the ball a lot this year and we've been kind of sticking with it and running with it. Guys have been unselfish and giving up themselves for the betterment of the team and we've realized that that's kind of our identity and that's what we've been able to do and just going to continue to roll with it and be able to make plays and come out with a win."
The Gators were once again not shy about sharing the rock in the air and Florida was able to amass 467 yards of total offense. This is the seventh game Florida has had a 300-yard play passing game this season.
On the other side of the ball, Florida was able to record eight sacks on the night, which means Todd Grantham's group has sacked opponents 46 times this season - the highest total since 1997, when UF recorded 50 sacks on the year.
"Man, the DBs, the back end was in good coverage and then our front seven can go eat. Jon Greenard had like three today. He’s been the SEC Player of the Week like three or four times," said linebacker David Reese. "You get a guy like that, get a guy like Zu. Then you get Shuler. All of those big guys in the middle. We have a good group of guys. We stopped the run and let them eat.”
One can argue that Florida was a few injuries away from a playoff spot.
"Injury bug just caught us at the wrong time," defensive end Jonathan Greenard said. "We know what we can do when we're healthy. When we're healthy we can play with anybody in this country. I like us against anyone. We're standing on that."
According to Mullen, the Gators should be considered for a playoff spot.
"I think we did enough to get a New Year's Six bowl," Mullen said. "Maybe even more. Baylor beat a 6-win team last week and jumped up five spots. We did the same thing today, pretty handedly, so we’ll see how that is."
Although UF may not manage another trip to Atlanta this postseason, this was yet another successful season for Mullen. It was a a season that demonstrated how far the program has come.
A program that remain undefeated at home.
A program that was able to sell out another game, producing another electric atmosphere.
"I think last year was a big culture change around here and we all bought in," quarterback Kyle Trask said. "It's just another stepping stone and a building block. We're planning to just keep it going. We want to rebuild the Gator standard around Gainesville. We're just going to keep on setting building blocks every single year and just keep it going."
With the veterans departing, it will be up to the younger group to keep the success going in Gainesville.
"I'm just thankful that we get to this situation to make this mark and have a 10-win season, go to a really good bowl game, New Year's Six bowl," Greenard said. "That's going to be really good.
"That just builds for the younger guys. We set the pace and them guys are going to take off and go from there. I think they understand that and they're going to pride themselves on doing a really good job in the offseason."
"We had a good year last year, winning nine regular season games," Mullen said. "But I don’t think we won it in the same fashion we did this year. I think you look at how this team won, how we won big games, had a tough schedule. To go play some tough road games we had to play and how we competed, I thought they took a huge step forward."
