ATLANTA - The Florida football team earned the right to play in the Peach Bowl. Dan Mullen's men fought hard to go from a program heading in the wrong direction, ending the 2017 season 4-7, and turning it into a New Year's Six Bowl team in just 12 months.
"It's a great reward for an unbelievable season and has been for so many years," said Florida head coach Dan Mullen on Monday. "Go find a guy who played football 20-30 years ago and ask him about the bowl experience, and they will say it was one of the great experiences during their college career."
The Gators will want their bowl game experience to end on a positive note. However, environments like these can cause some players to lose focus. The Peach Bowl will host several activities for the players that stretch from Monday until game time on Saturday including: Go-Karting, a basketball competition and karaoking. The teams will also be able visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Site and visit the College Football Hall of Fame.
The key is finding the right balance on and off the field.
"The priority is to win the game," said Mullen. "We talk to our players a lot about splitting the day in eights. They need to get at least eight hours of sleep to get ready for the game, spend eight hours a day worrying about football and then eight hours a day of social, fun time. In that eight hours of football, that's how we eat, get dressed, taped, watch film and practice. There's an awful lot of social, fun time as well to enjoy, but when it's football time, make sure you’re completely locked down on football."
It is also Christmas. A lot of these players will be far from home for the holidays. Staying at the Omni hotel is great, but it is not a family holiday. Mullen and his staff, however, are trying to make sure to create a family environment for the team.
“Christmas is Christmas Day, but it’s also Tuesday on a game week. We’ll try to do a great job of separating the two,” Mullen said. “We’ll walk out early in the morning and we’ll have a whole big Christmas celebration. There will be a lot of big gifts under the tree and a big Christmas breakfast. Then we’ll switch into game mode in the in the afternoon.”
Mullen understands how this game could very well change the perception of where things stand with the program, not just outside of Gainesville, but inside his own locker room.
“I do know that this game has a direct correlation on how we're going to feel between now and the start of next year," he said. "If we win this game, we're going to finish in the top 10 and have high expectations going into next season, but you’re also going to have an awful lot of confidence going into that offseason- the energy and the boost that it can give you. You know you play on Dec. 29 and we don't play again until Labor Day next year. That's a long time to not be smiling that whole time. You want to be smiling after the win. I love that feeling. You win that last game and you leave on a high note."
“We’re ready to go out there and compete. They went and beat us two to three years, so it’s going to be a big challenge on us, lot of pressure on us,” Florida nickel Chauncey Gardner-Johnson said. “Like I said, they’re a solid team. Just got to go out there and focus up, do what we’re supposed to do.”
"You have two top-10 teams playing each other," added Mullen. "I think it's as great of an experience as anything you’re going to do in college football.
