GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida is set to face its second FCS team in four weeks in Towson this Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Gators also welcome HBO in town for their college football series, "24/7 College Football."
It's a week where Florida's mindset has to be on point - especially if you consider that in two weeks Dan Mullen's team will start its most challenging portion of the schedule, facing three top ten teams in four games.
"It's on our exact attention to detail and our development and our improvement from one day to the next of getting better," Mullen said. "And that's what we can control and that's what we need to worry about. If we're worried about other things, we're worried about the wrong thing and we're not going to be able to accomplish the goals we have as a team."
So the Gators can't look ahead.
Next week, Florida is set to welcome No. 7 Auburn for its Homecoming game. Both teams could potentially still be undefeated when that game is played. One can even argue, the Gators' biggest test to date.
"We talked to the team this week," Mullen said. "Obviously there will be a lot more hype on next week's game. National hype. It'll be the CBS game of the week. But for us to even have an opportunity to win that game we have got to improve this week."
Florida did not start the 2019 season the sharpest, however, the Gators head coach has seen his team progress week in and week out.
"I thought we took some really good steps," he said. "I thought we played a lot better against Tennessee than we had in the previous weeks. And that had a lot to do with because we practiced better last week.
"Our scout teams executed a little bit cleaner, the defense finished plays at practice a little bit better. Thought we did an amazing job of our Friday night and early Saturday morning, it was a quick turnaround and preparation going into the game, of guys really honing into their routine and getting ready to go perform on a Saturday. If we don't continue to take a step forward with that this week, it'll show. And it'll show not just this week, it'll show the next week and the week after that and the week after that as you continue to move forward. So I think that's the message for the guys."
However, the biggest improvement has been the team's preparation.
"Our preparation, how we practiced, how we managed our walk throughs, how we managed on leading into the game on Friday and Saturday," said Mullen. "I thought those were probably the biggest improvement steps.”
Change of schedule
The Gators are off on Monday after practicing on Sunday.
"We’ll go back to our regular schedule next week, because then it’s ‘three straight games, bye, three straight games, bye,’ so to kind of try to keep a little bit of continuity, you know, without that break that’s coming, the other ones, the schedule we got, by going yesterday, a little less contact during practice, during the week, leading into the game. And the opportunity … we’ve got a lot of guys that have been banged up, you know, over the last couple of weeks. Give guys a little bit of recovery time and try to get our health back."
Medical Report
- Feleipe Franks had his surgery on Monday morning, "from the reports, all the doctors and everything, it went really well. That’s a really big positive."
- CJ Henderson and Jabari Zuniga both are dealing with ankle sprains. According to Mullen, the team got through the last game with "no significant injuries just bumps and bruises."
"Hopefully we get guys healthy by Friday to come back out and play. There will be a couple of game-time decisions.. The guys might not practice a lot this week."
- Gators WR Kadarius Toney is not expected to return this week.
Gators looking to change scheduling philosophy
As mentioned above, the Gators are set to play their second FCS opponent this season. However, Mullen and Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin are looking to add a few more Power Five teams to the schedule.
" I know talking to Scott we’re trying to play more Power 5 teams. You know, people aren’t jumping up and down to play us," explained Mullen. We’re calling Power 5 teams, trying to get more games and it’s not like hey everybody we call can’t wait to come play Florida. That’s not always an easy deal. But I know for our fans it is fun to play some bigger games and in the future that’s something we’re going to look is trying to play some more Power 5 games. In the league, I think we should mix up the league schedule more, to be perfectly honest with you. If you look over the next six years, I think we play Miami three times, Florida State six times, South Florida three times, Mississippi State once. So who’s the SEC teams? I think it’s an injustice for the kids. We should mix those games up and you should play more teams from the West and get the opportunity to play more SEC games. You come play in this league and play in those games, conference games are a lot of fun, playing other SEC teams. I think moving forward scheduling wise, obviously conference we don’t control that, but I think that’d be a heck of a deal and I know we’re working to play more Power 5 teams.”
According to a report by the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley, the Gators are set to host Utah in 2022 and travel to Salt Lake City in 2023.
Gator Chomps
On finding an Alpha Dog
"We have guys that are getting better at it. We certainly do. But you want to have guys that are alpha dogs and aren't afraid to stand up and talk to the team, and I think guys are getting more comfortable in that role. You know what I mean? Nick Buchanan did a couple really nice things in the game just, you know, with making controls and decisions on the offensive line. I think our receiver position is full of; our receiver position is amazing in what they do and how they're doing it. David Reese tries on defense, is getting better at being more vocal and standing up. I think Jon Greenard is better at being vocal. Now he's comfortable being on the team and making plays and being in games, is a guy that's not afraid to jump up and talk to everybody. So I think there are guys growing into it."
On Amari Burney's return
“It was great to get him back. I think everybody sees the athleticism that he has on the field and that he's a playmaker for our defense. Also see the position flexibility that he has. We can move him to different spots. He has the size that he can play some linebacker and he has the length and has speed to play safety in the STAR. So he's that way that you can create mismatches on the defensive side of the ball. I think you see the playmaking ability that he has and it was great to see that back this week.”
Uptick of snaps for Richard Gouraige.
"One was I was trying to create and make sure we have that depth on the offensive line and there's time we want to get guys in, you know John, we talk about not getting guys in enough. Richard's got flexibility, so Richard really, it gives you, you could put Richard on the field now right now and it actually gives you those six guys you can create several different combinations. So you can, one guy can replace four other guys. Now he might not be able to, he's not gonna go play all four of those spots so he can go replace those guys. And Richard's obviously done a really great job, really talented young player for us that I think has a great future and it's something, I really wanted to get him going, get him out there on the field and get him playing for us."
On being more aggressive on fourth downs
"Like all the magic numbers that you should go for it on every fourth down? Don't ever punt type of deal? Onside kick every time? There's a school that did that and they said it works but statistically speaking there's some merit to it, I guess when you look at it. I haven’t looked at it that way. I just think part of it, we’ve been aggressive. A lot of it gets to be situational. End of the first half, if that’s fourth-and-three we’re probably kicking the field goal in that situation. We missed one during the game, probably that I don’t know if that was the best decision on my part. Even the play call with the distance that we needed, I don’t know if I hit that right … on the fourth down that was a little bit on me. But I don’t mind being aggressive. I think the players like it when you have a little bit of an aggressive mindset with what we’re doing.”
How did you evaluate Emory Jones once you watched the film?
“I thought he did a really good job for him. The one thing I told him, ‘Just make sure you’re with me, so I’m ready to get you in there quicker.’ Uncertain looks and plays during the course of the game. The one thing I did, I talked to both guys before the game, I said, ‘Here’s what I need. You’ve both got to make sure you’re completely involved in the game and every call that’s going on and everything that’s happening. And when you run on the field or run off the field, that’s just your job and pay attention to what the next play’s going to be and be able to talk about different things. I thought both guys handled that really well. Both guys graded ‘Champions’ for us. Both guys graded out. And so, that was a real big positive for us moving forward.”
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