JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- The Gators arrived in Jacksonville with high expectations and dreams of moving one step closer to Atlanta. They left disappointed.
Dan Mullen's side struggled on both sides of the ball as the No. 6 Florida fell to No. 8 Georgia on Saturday 24-17.
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The Gators no longer control their own destiny in the SEC East.
“It’s tough right now. We have to sit on this loss just for a little bit,” senior BUCK Jon Greenard said after the game. “We’ve gotta get it out of our head and realize we can still do something for this university with our team this year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted but to get where we wanted to be as far as a successful season — it’s still in the hunt, a lot of things can happen between now and then. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to still keep fighting, get back to work. We’re going to get better.”
This group is not pointing fingers at each other but looking in the mirror, leading by example.
“Third down we just gotta get off the field," said Greenard. "We gotta get to the quarterback. He was too comfortable back there. I was terrible. I was ass today. No excuse. Believe me. I’m going to get back right.”
Unfair or not Greenard took a lot responsibility on Saturday night after the loss. The senior grad transfer is using his voice to lead others by his words and by his action. But he is not the only senior leader to do so.
"I'm pretty sure the message is pretty clear,” senior center Nick Buchanan said. “We just talked in the locker room. We're going to come out on Monday, do what we do and get back to work."
Buchanan is just one of Florida's players that remembers how one loss can easily turn into two. The Gators came into Jacksonville last season with similar hopes and aspirations, only to leave wanting - the Gators would lose to Missouri the week after their loss to Georgia.
Mullen used his moment with the team on Saturday night to remind them, there is still plenty to play for.
“I mean, there’s a lot of football still left to be played in the league," said the Gators head coach. "Division hasn’t been clinched by anybody, it wasn’t going to be clinched today by anybody. So, you know. Whether we won or lost the game, next week’s game is a really big game for us. That’s how it works.”
“We do have a lot to play for," quarterback Kyle Trask said. "We have to finish the season strong. This is going to be a big character moment for us to see how we finish. I have 100-percent belief we’re going to finish it the right way and continue to get better each and every week.
"We still have a shot at this thing. We can only control what we can control. We have to do all we can do to finish the season the right way.”
Trask finished 21-of-33 for 257 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Bulldogs.The signal caller took two sacks for 29 yards, which the Texan probably wishes he would have thrown the ball away. However, the redshirt junior is confident his team can bounce back.
“I think this an elite football team,” Trask said. “I think it’s just lack of execution, it wasn’t anything talent wise. We are an elite team. We just execute at a higher level early in games and finish drives and I think we can play with anybody in the country.”
“It's just little things, executing at times when it matters most and some points we struggled with that. Clean that up and I'll take us vs. anybody in the country.”
The Gators have no time to waste. On Monday, Florida will shift its focus to Vanderbilt.
“We just gotta get back to work. It’s a tough loss. We came in with high hopes of getting a W. it didn’t come out that way,” Greenard said. “They were a good team, a really great team...We just have to execute. It hurts. We just have to bounce back.”
“I’m not letting this loss define us," said Swain. "We’re still a good team and can still be elite, just gotta focus on the little things as a team and once we do, we’ll be alright.”
