GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida football is angry.
"It's the fire inside of each individual, so you have to talk to yourself and say who are you as a person and a competitor," tight end Lucas Krull said. "It's all about your will to want to win, so that's what I've seen in practice this week. Every guy has been out there, practicing pissed off. We're angry. It's something that's going to translate to a great finish."
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The Gators went into last week's game controlling their own destiny, however, fell to Georgia and now have to wait to see if a shot for the SEC Championship is still in the cards.
Gators safety Donovan Stiner admits the team will have one eye on the Bulldogs' game this week.
"I mean in the back of our head, but at the same time we have to focus on ourself because we have to handle our own business," said Stiner. "We can't worry about what Georgia is doing. So yeah, like I said, we've got to focus on ourselves."
With a New Year's Six bowl is still on the table, but they have to bounce back.
After facing off against three top-ten teams, the Gators will face off against Vanderbilt at home, Missouri away and Florida State at the Swamp - a manageable schedule if their minds are in the right place.
"You know it come down from the leaders and the seniors on the team," said tight end Kyle Pitts. "They been preaching don’t worry about the last game and the next game will be fine.”
"The biggest thing for the leaders on the team is just to make sure everybody’s heads are still up, everybody is still focused on the big games we still have in front of us," wide receiver Josh Hammond explained. "No body really wants to lose and guys are definitely down after the game. Think a lot of guys are just competitive and ready to get back out there and try to get ready to take on Vandy and take the bad taste out of our mouths.
These seniors understand their time in a Gator uniform is short.
"Yeah, we feel it," defensive tackle Adam Shuler said on Monday. "Me and (Jonathan Greenard) was talking about it today in practice. We just want to make sure we have fun, bring all the young guys with us. Play hard and have fun with it."
The Gators wanted to win the SEC East; they wanted to return to Atlanta to win the SEC Championship; they wanted to contend for a spot in the College Playoffs. Most of those things are likely off the table.
The big thing will now be for this team to turn those disappointments into new goals.
"You have such high expectations and you're just so, so close to reaching a potential goal that you guys set at the beginning of the year," Krull said. "Just something that when you don't get it, it makes you, it fires you up and makes you want it more. A lot of teams can turn their heads down and be frustrated and quit on a season and that's not us.
"That's not the Gator standard and that's not how we work here. We're just going to build right back up and get right back out there and every time we step on the field Saturday we expect to win. And we're going to."
