News, Notes, & Quotes: Florida @ Kentucky
2022 Florida Football Postgame Notes No. 20 Kentucky 26, No. 12 Florida 16 September 10, 2022 Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field – Gainesville, Fla.
Gators Draw 180,000-Plus Fans Through Two Games
● Paired with Week 1’s attendance of 90,799 (10th all-time, most ever for home opener), Florida’s Week 2 attendance of 89,992 equates to a combined 180,792 fans through two games. Florida’s 180,792 fans represents the fourth-largest two-game attendance start in program history. Largest Two-Game Attendance Starts, Program History
▪ 180,970 (2009, v. CSU and Troy)
▪ 180,939 (2008, v. Miami and Ole Miss) ▪ 180,806 (2005, v. Wyoming and LA Tech)
▪ 180,792 (2022, v. Utah and Kentucky) ▪ 180,790 (2010, v. Miami and USF) History of Ranked Florida vs. Ranked Kentucky
● A Ranked Florida falls to 2-2 against ranked Kentucky teams in the fourth-ever matchup in which both programs have been ranked in the AP Top-25. Week 2 marked just the second head-to-head meeting in the last 70 years in which both teams were ranked in the AP Top-25 (2007).
● Previous Ranked Matchups:
▪ 10/20/2007: No. 14 Florida 45, No. 20 Kentucky 37
▪ 12/6/1952: No. 17 Florida 27, No. 19 Kentucky 0
▪ 11/4/1950: No. 5 Kentucky 40, No. 17 Florida 6
● Florida has now played a ranked Kentucky team seven times across the all-time series, including three times since 1953 (2022, 2007, 1977).
● UF went from NR in Week 1 to No. 12 in Week 2 - the largest jump in school history in the current AP Top-25 format and the Gators’ fourth-biggest ever.
Gators Offense
● RB Montrell Johnson Jr. exploded for a 40-yard rush in the second quarter, marking Florida’s second-longest rush of the season (Anthony Richardson, 45 yards) and the longest of Johnson Jr.’s young Gators career.
● RB Trevor Etienne scored his first-career touchdown with a go-ahead, 11-yard scamper into the endzone to make it 12-7 in favor of Florida in the second quarter. Etienne then caught a pass from QB Anthony Richardson to convert the two-point conversion, moving the score to 14-7.
▪ Etienne is the first Gators player since 1996 to score a rushing touchdown and convert a two-point conversion on a reception in the same game.
● Etienne is one of three players (Kyle Trask, Anthony Richardson) to score a rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion in the same game in the last 25 years.
▪ Week 2 represented UF’s second-straight week with a successful two-point conversion attempt.
● Johnson Jr. and Etienne combined for 108 yards rushing on 16 carries (6.8 YPC). That equates to 53.3% of carries and 79.4% of UF’s rushing yardage in Week 2.
● TE Dante Zanders hauled in his first-career reception for four yards in the second quarter.
● WR Xzavier Henderson paced all UF receivers with 50 yards and six receptions on ten targets.
● The Florida offensive line took over six quarters to surrender its first sack of the season, which came on Florida’s first drive of the third quarter.
● Six different Gators caught at least one pass.
● Florida was shut out at home in the second half of a game for the first time since Oct. 1, 2011 vs. Alabama.
Gators Defense
● Florida held its opponent to under 300 total yards of offense for the first time since Nov. 20, 2021 at Missouri (286). Florida has held Kentucky to under 300 total yards in three-straight meetings.
▪ The Gators have held the Wildcats to under 300 yards in 15 of the last 22 meetings. This is the fifth time since the start of the 2021 season that the Gators have held an opponent to 300 yards or fewer.
● The Gators allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards for the first time since holding Vanderbilt to 88 on Oct. 9, 2021. Tonight’s matchup marked the first time since Sept. 10, 2016 that Florida held Kentucky to 100 or fewer rushing yards (94).
▪ The last time Florida held Kentucky to fewer rushing yards was on Sept. 28, 2013 in Lexington (48 rushing yards). This is the fourth time since the start of the 2021 campaign that Florida has allowed 100 or fewer yards, having also accomplished the feat at home vs. Alabama and Florida Atlantic last season (in addition to Vandy).
● The Gators recorded three sacks in tonight’s game, their most since sacking Florida State four times on Nov. 27, 2021 of last season. Florida’s three sacks were the team’s most against Kentucky since Sept. 23, 2017 (four). Florida’s 160 sacks since 2018 season ranks second in the SEC and fourth nationally – trailing only Clemson (192), Pittsburgh (189) and Alabama (171).
● Florida forced Kentucky to a three-and-out and -2 total yards on its opening drive. o Kentucky had scored on 69.2 percent of its opening drives since last season, the third-best mark in the FBS during that span (Wake Forest & BYU - 71.4). Florida forced just one three-and-out drive in last week's win over No. 7 Utah. The Gators' defense opened with one in Week 2, forcing a loss of two yards.
● Florida held Kentucky to -37 rushing yards in the first half, marking the lowest first-half rushing total allowed by the Gators in the last 10 years. This is the second-fewest rushing yards allowed in any half by an SEC team in the last 10 years.
▪ Kentucky held UT Martin to -45 yards in the first half of their Nov. 23, 2019 game.
● The Gators went ahead, 16-7, thanks to their first safety in 41 games – since Sept. 23, 2018 vs. Tennessee.
● Florida tallied three sacks against Kentucky in the first quarter alone – the first time UF logged three sacks in a quarter since sacking Missouri QB Connor Bazelak three times in the third quarter on Nov. 20, 2021. DL Gervon Dexter Sr. and DB Trey Dean III got the Gators to the opposing quarterback for the first time this season, combining with for a one-yard sack of Will Levis on UK’s first drive of the game. DL Justus Boone registered Florida’s second sack of the season, getting to Levis for a seven-yard loss in the first quarter.
▪ It marked the first full sack of Boone’s career, moving his career total to 1.5 sacks. LB Amari Burney collected his first sack since Dec. 5, 2020 at Tennessee, as he picked up Florida’s third sack of the first quarter.
● Dexter Sr. picked up his second-career interception in the second quarter. His first came at Ole Miss in 2020 during his collegiate debut. Dexter is the first UF player to be credit with a sack and an interception in the same game since Mohamoud Diabate vs. Kentucky on Nov. 28, 2020.
● Dean tied his career high with 1.5 TFLs.
● LB Shemar James finished tied-for-second on the team with seven tackles, setting a new career high in his second-ever game.
● With one takeaway vs. Kentucky, Florida’s defense has now produced 80 turnovers since 2018, which ranks third in the SEC and tied-for-30th in the FBS. Florida Special Teams
● Jeremy Crawshaw punted five times for an average of 47.4 yards, including a long punt of 54 yards and three kicks inside the opposing 20-yard line.
● Adam Mihalek was 2-of-2 on the first-two field goal attempts of his career. Mihalek converted a 50-yard field goal to bring the score to 7-6 in the second quarter.
▪ Mihalek’s 50-yarder was Florida’s longest since Jace Christmann hit a 51-yard field goal at Kentucky on Oct. 2, 2021 of last season. Mihalek made his first-career field goal in the form of a 39-yarder to put the Gators ahead, 3-0, in the first quarter.
Explosive Plays
● Justin Shorter (from Anthony Richardson): 16-yard reception, first quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Richardson): 24-yard reception, first quarter
● Xzavier Henderson (from Richardson): 28-yard reception, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 40-yard rush, second quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 15-yard rush, second quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 11-yard touchdown rush, second quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Richardson): 15-yard reception, third quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 14-yard rush, third quarter Series Updates
● Tonight’s game represented the 73rd all-time meeting between Florida and Kentucky including the 35th in Gainesville.
● With tonight’s defeat, Florida falls to 53-20 vs. Kentucky and 29-6 in home games. Florida has still won 33 of the last 36 meetings in the series including wins in 21 of the last 23 home matchups in The Swamp.
● The Gators fall to 7-3 against Kentucky since HC Mark Stoops took over in 2013, with the only prior losses coming in 2018 (home) and 2021 (away). Those are UF’s only losses in the head-to-head series dating back through 1987. Since 2013, UF has outscored UK, 255-184 (+71 pts / 7.1 PPG), and out-gained UK, 4,015 to 2,931 (+1,084 yds / 108.4 YPG).
● UF HC Billy Napier drops to 1-1 as a head coach and 0-1 all-time against Kentucky HC Mark Stoops. The two previously met in 2013 and 2016, when Napier was the WRs Coach at Alabama. A No.1-ranked Alabama team won both matchups over Stoops’ Wildcats, 48-7 (2013) and 34-6 (2016).
Other
● With UK HC Mark Stoops passing Bear Bryant as the winningest head coach at Kentucky, Steve Spurrier now lays claim as the only FBS coach to be the active-winningest HC at multiple schools (Duke, Florida).
● UF has scored in 425-consecutive games -- which is an NCAA record and 56 games longer than any other college football team in history. The Gators broke Michigan’s record of 365-consecutive games (1984-2014) against LSU on Oct. 7, 2017.
● Florida has finished with fewer than 10 penalties in 44 of its last 47 games.
● Florida Game Captains: #2 Amari Burney #65 Kingsley Eguakun, #3 Xzavier Henderson, #86 Jordan Pouncey
● Kentucky won the toss and deferred; Florida defended the south end zone.
● Attendance: 89,993
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach No. 20 Kentucky 26, No. 12 Florida 16 September 10, 2022
Opening statement… “I think coaching is a lot like teaching. When the students don’t perform as well as you want them to, I think as a coach and as a teacher, you got to take a good look in the mirror. I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do, what our staff is going to do. A lot of good out there tonight. I can complement certain parts of our team I thought were outstanding. We certainly made improvements in a lot of areas of our team, but there are some that obviously didn’t perform as well. In football, you always got to tell the truth. Between the lines each week, you got to earn the right to win. I think when we evaluate this game there is no question, we didn’t earn the right to win. We made too many mistakes. I think the film will say that. Also, I think that much like life, the game of football can teach you. There is adversity in your life and in this game as a competitor and as a person you got a choice to make. You can choose character, or you can choose to compromise. I’m excited about the character of our team. I know how they are going to respond. We’re going to learn. We’re going to improve and we’re going to go back to work. I think you got to take ownership. As a leader, that’s exactly the plan here.”
On Anthony Richardson… “I think there’s no one that’s his own worst critic than Anthony [Richardson]. Anthony is a perfectionist. He’s the ultimate competitor. He wants to do his job for the team. Can’t talk enough about his loyalty, his sense of responsibility for playing the position and doing that really well for the team. I get the chance to be in the meeting room with him every single day, the entire year. To have the opportunity to be around that guy is pretty special. Anthony can do things better, but that starts with me. We got to think that part of coaching is putting your players in position where they can have success. We made mistakes tonight. Anthony made mistakes. I made mistakes. That is the beautiful thing about the game of football. It requires hundreds of people to have success. Hundreds of people contribute when you don’t maybe get the result that you want. I think sometimes the quarterback position, you get that spotlight put on you. Reality is there’s things around you that can be done better. That contribute to quarterback play. One thing I know about Anthony is he is going to be a fighter. He is going to show back up and he is going to work hard to improve. He has that level of investment and commitment to the players and the people in the organization.
On the 4th and 6… “We had gotten some stops. At that point in the game, you got to be aggressive. You think about where you are on the field, four minutes left in the game. You are only going to get so many opportunities to get it back. They were chewing it up pretty good. No question, that was the right decision.”
On Richardson running the ball… “I think a little bit of it was the way they defended us. It was part of it. I think we had opportunities there for him to run it, but sometimes the defense dictates some of those things. I do think last week he had more opportunities and part of that was the structure that the defense played.”
On the team and Richardson’s youth… “We tried to talk about that as much as we can. I think the guy [Richardson] he’s a young player. That’s his second start in the Swamp of his entire life. I think that’s the great thing about experience. This guy started this season with very minimal experience. How many lessons does this guy learn in an actual game setting when the game counted? I think that he’s going through that. That’s part of the game of football. It’s part of life. You are going to experience mistakes. Ultimately, I know that the most growth in life comes from some of the most difficult struggles that you go through. I think the game’s no different. There will be players and him. He’s really going to grow and improve and learn lessons and grow his character relative to how he responds. With these things comes opportunity, if you have the right attitude and approach.
On the positives… “I think at times there in the first half we rushed the ball effectively. I’ll have a better opinion after I watch the film. There is no question you can see the improvement on special teams, you could see the improvement on defense. There’s no question about that. Offensively, I’m going to reserve my answer for Monday after we go back and watch this tape. I do note that there’s too many mistakes for my liking across the board. I think that’s coaching and we are going to take ownership of them.”
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Florida Student-Athletes No. 20 Kentucky 26, No. 12 Florida 16 September 10, 2022
#15 Anthony Richardson, Sophomore, Quarterback On takeaways from the game… “Just got to play better. I feel like I let everybody down. Especially the defense because I looked everybody on defense in the eye and I told them I’ve got them and that I was put up points for them. Obviously, I did not. I turned the ball over, twice…three times. I fumbled the ball once. It was a tough loss and I’ve got to play better for the team and the university.”
On moving forward… “You’ve just got to grow. With this game and with life, adversity is going to come and you just have to grow. Especially from this because everybody expects a lot from me and I expect a lot from myself. I didn't showcase anything that I'm capable of tonight.”
On how he felt throughout the game… “I was pretty good. I started the game off and missed a couple of wide-open throws and my confidence got shot. It affected my receivers poorly, you know, missing them wide open. So, I know their confidence probably went down as well. I didn't help my o-line. I didn't help my running backs. I didn't help the team. So mentally, I sat myself down a little bit, but I tried to stay in it. And physically, I was fine, just trying to play through it and just play the game.”
On the two interceptions… “The first one, I didn't get enough depth with my naked. I thought I could get around to the end. I didn't want to throw over the top because I know he was a long player so I tried to saddle him and he just made a great play on that one. The second one is flashbacks of the Georgia game. Same thing, I just threw it right to the dude.”
On only rushing six times… “I pretty much just took what the defense gave me. You know, I try not to force too much. I'm a quarterback, so I told myself, I was going to try to pass the ball more. I guess that probably affecting my game a little bit. I just have to do better when the time comes.”
On what Coach Napier said in the locker room after the game… “We just have to go forward. We felt like we didn't really fight hard enough. He said we did fight but we didn't play hard enough and we didn't play like we deserved to win. We just thought we were going to come out here and win and maybe took them for granted. We just have to play better. “
#9 Gervon Dexter Sr., Sophomore, Defensive Line
On the interception… “Brenton Cox Jr. made a great play on the ball; I saw the ball and got ball.” On Napier’s message to the locker room following the loss… “We’re just going to prepare and get better from our mistakes. His message to us was see what we did wrong, identify what we did wrong, and fix it.”
On the defensive line pass rush… “Coach Toney called a very good game. We just executed what he called and it went well for us.”
On potential fatigue in the second half... “No, I don’t think there was any fatigue. They had the ball longer, but like I said, we are going to see what we did wrong and fix it tomorrow.”
On Will Levis… “He’s a pretty good player. Coach Toney called a great game against him, we executed it. We knew coming into the game what type of player he was and we tried to take some things away that he was good at. It worked well, but he’s a good player.”
On Ventrell Miller… “Ventrell is the quarterback of the defense. He’s very vocal, so that makes it very difficult for us to play without him on defense. He communicates well and does a lot of things well. It is kind of like losing your heart.”
On mistakes… “It’s tough losing a game like that. I’m very competitive and I hate losing. It is tough losing with it being an SEC game. It makes it a tough loss. Hopefully we will get our mistakes solved.”