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Florida’s “ho-hum” performance Saturday had nothing do with the gameday conditions at Vanderbilt.

It wasn’t the 11 a.m. start or small crowd of 1,147. Don’t blame the blaring music, either.

“It was like a rock concert the whole game, right on the field, so that kind of had a weird feeling,” UF coach Dan Mullen said.

The change in travel protocols also didn’t throw the Gators off, Mullen added. They arrived at the stadium just an hour before kickoff, and players got dressed on the field.

“We didn't even go to the locker room,” Kaiir Elam said. “It was a lot more COVID protocols, keeping us spaced out. … We just have to be able to adjust and be resilient.”

The Gators showed their resiliency in Nashville, overcoming a sluggish start and first-half deficit to pull away for a 38-17 win. It was an up-and-down day from the nation’s No. 6 team, but Mullen saw this coming in practice throughout the week.

“I don't know that we had our best week of practice,” he said. “Not attitude-wise, I just kind of thought we were a little bit blah a couple of days of practice. Not as sharp, not as crisp with everything we were doing. That was kind of top to bottom.

“We had a good day and then a bad day, a good day and then a bad day of practice this week, and it kind of looked that way today offensively and defensively. A good drive, a bad drive, a good drive, a bad drive.”

The Gators scored on their opening drive of the game, but then punted on the next two possessions and found themselves trailing 10-7 midway through the second quarter. Quarterback Kyle Trask echoed Mullen’s comments about the poor practices, which carried over into the game Saturday.

“It wasn’t our best week of practice by far,” Trask said. “We had some good days, we also had a day or two that we could have been a lot better.

“It was kind of like up and down throughout the week. The leaders and the coaches brought a lot of energy to the team and just knew we had to crank it up a notch. That’s what we did, and we had great practices from there on out.”

Following UF’s second punt, the offense scored from there on out. Trask & Co. put up points on five of the next six possessions and had the lead by halftime, 17-10.

Trevon Grimes put Florida in front with his 34-yard touchdown over two defenders.

“He got up there pretty high and made a great catch,” said Trask, who finished with 383 yards and three TDs, setting another SEC record for passing scores through seven games. “Coach Mullen has told us he’s been on championship teams and sometimes they came out flat, but they still found a way to win. And we came out pretty flat, obviously you want to start off faster than that. But at the end of the day, we found a way to win and that’s all that matters.”

The Gators took a two-touchdown lead on the first series of the second half and never lost it after Mullen’s gamble paid off. He went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 34-yard line and moved the chains with a two-yard run by Dameon Pierce, who finished off the drive from a yard out.

“That's why they pay you the big bucks, I guess,” Mullen said of the fourth-down play. “We felt comfortable with the call we would have in that situation and our ability to be able to get it.

“It wasn’t just the fourth down, but going out and getting the touchdown afterwards. It gave you a touchdown right before the half and the touchdown to start the second half. You have a 14-point swing really without them really threatening.”

After giving up 10 points on Vanderbilt’s first two series, Florida’s defense made five straight stops with a pair of three-and-outs. The ’Dores pulled with two scores on Chris Pierce’s 58-yard touchdown and got the ball back after Kadarius Toney’s fumble, but the Gators forced their sixth punt and then sealed the win with Elam’s interception.

“I feel like we were supposed to dominate today and we didn't,” Elam said. “It feels good that we closed them out, but I think we need to come out with that same energy as we did when we were playing well. They scored way too many points today, honestly.”

But not enough to beat the Gators, who scored at least 35 points for the ninth straight game to set a new school record. Mullen broke the mark set by Steve Spurrier’s national championship team in 1996, but he doesn’t expect to receive another bottle of wine from the HBC.

“I don’t know if I’m getting much for this one. But it was good enough today,” Mullen said. “I think it was kind of just a ho-hum performance for us if that's the best way to put it, which we can't do if we want to be a great team. We can't do that. ... So I'm really pleased with our guys finding a way to win and suck it up despite not playing at our best for the entire game."