Notebook: Florida needs to get healthy

LEXINGTON, Ky.-- In Florida's win over UT-Martin, Dan Mullen said he had to have a "not so friendly" halftime talk with his team.

This week the Gators head coach did not have a problem with Florida's mentality.

"I thought last week I didn’t like our mindset as much," said Mullen. "This week it wasn’t our mindset; we were just making simple mistakes. And the key for me was if we believe we’re going to win the game, there’s a chance because we made some mistakes. It was going to come down the wire and what we needed to do is continually believe we were going to win the game. We did it.”

The Gators rallied after they saw their quarterback, Feleipe Franks, carted off the field. Kyle Trask was able to lead the offense to two scoring drives to take the 29-21 win, while the defense was able to secure much needed stops - something the defense failed to do in the first half.

"We've still got a long way to go," said Mullen. " I think Kentucky's an excellent football team. I think we came on the road and got in a very tough environment, we came and got a big-time win. And I think we, when dealing with adversity, we found ways to win. We've had a couple of tough games, you know what I mean? We've been in the season five weeks, we've played one game in the Swamp."

Injury bug hits Florida

Of course the biggest story surrounding the Gators on Saturday was Florida's injury concern.

Prior to the game on Saturday, the Gators were already expected to be without receiver Kadarius Toney for a couple of weeks due to a shoulder injury, while CJ Henderson was set to be week-to-week with an ankle injury.

Henderson did miss the SEC opener but was not the only one.

As our Gators Territory subscribers found out on Thursday, Amari Burney was not looking like his return was imminent. The Florida linebacker, who was banged up after the Miami win, also missed the contest on Saturday.

Florida came out even more banged up in the win over the Wildcats. The Gators are now expected to lose quarterback Feleipe Franks for the rest of the season with what appears to be a dislocated ankle.

"We need to get healthy. We need to get healthy," Mullen said. "In recruiting, eventually we'll build up the depth hopefully where we can get through some of this."

Although Franks' injury grabbed most of the headlines, and understandably so, it was not the only injury notes on Saturday night. Defensive end Jabari Zuniga looks to have injured a foot or ankle injury in the first series against UK. Zuniga did manage to return in the second half but that return was short lived.

Jonathan Greenard was also seen sporting a protective boot on his right foot during his post game interviews. He told reporters that he tweaked his ankle but should be fine.

"We need to get healthy," Mullen said. "But we get to go to the Swamp for the next three weeks. We're going to be home next week, and I know it's early kick, but I'll tell you what, we need 90,000 in the Gator Nation giving us an advantage making that place, I mean, just crazy for the other team."

GATOR CHOMPS

GOING FOR TWO FIRST TIME?

"The first time? Yeah, here's where it gets to... it's on that kind of cusp line right there. But to be honest with you, they were, it was, I mean we ran 57 plays. They were kind of controlling the clock and it wasn't an up-tempo, lot-of-possession game. So at that point you're thinking 12 minutes left, I mean you walk out in the second half and I'm looking at Evan, 'Hey, which way do you want to kick the game-winning field goal?' He's like, 'I'd like to go that way to kick the game-winning field goal,' so we kicked off the other direction in the third quarter. I'm sitting there saying, 'OK, well we go for two, they can go take a bunch of time off the clock, a field goal still ties it.' So even though you're on the cusp there, to go either way, you've got to think about how the game was being played. It wasn't like an up-and-down game where you can get three more scores before it ends. So that's why we went for two, try to get the field goal."

PROTECTION BETTER IN SECOND HALF?

"I think there was a couple. The sack-fumble, one of the guys went the wrong way, turned the guy free. If we block him, Feleipe comes off and I'm, 'Hey, did you see the guy,' he goes, 'Yeah, we had him wide open,' that type of deal. I think we missed a blitz pickup on one or two of them. Overall, though, I thought our protection was decent, you know what I mean? The thing was to me is us building off of, because it's stuff we can control. Some of the pressures were missed assignments more than getting beat. I think there were one or two where we had a guy get beat. In SEC road games that's not half bad. We can clean that up, though, a little bit. It's attention to detail, focus. That's a young group. That offensive line, again, you look at the veteran positions. You look at some of the receivers and some of the veteran players and the plays they make. You look at veteran quarterbacks that don't skip a beat, they keep going. Running backs. The O-line's one of our younger positions, so at times they look pretty good, other times those are growing pains you go through."

RUNNING GAME STRUGGLED?

"Well, I think part of it was you look at what they were doing and the passing game didn't struggle. What we've got to do is just take what they give us. As you get into the flow of the game, they were going to let us throw it. We threw it. And so sometimes that's just how it goes. You've got to adapt. I mean I love being balanced, right? We threw it 30 times, ran it 27. Somewhat balanced. Obviously you always like to tip the scales on the side of the run, that's me, I love to run the ball. But if you're going to sit there and let us throw it and say, 'We're not going to let you run it,' we'll throw it."