Last year, after driving 74 yards in 11 plays on the team’s first possession, Florida faced a fourth and goal from the Alabama 2-yard line. Instead of attempting a game-tying field goal, the Gators went for the touchdown, a statement score.
But linebacker Nico Johnson picked off Trey Burton’s jump pass, Alabama marched down the field and scored a touchdown, and Florida’s hopes of an upset were dashed.
“That offensive drive kind of broke us down a little bit and everybody kind of separated a little bit,” safety Josh Evans said. “[It] broke us down early in the game and we lost focus.”
Turnovers have been key in each of the last three games between No. 12 Florida (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 3 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC), and if the Gators want to pull off a statement win in Will Muschamp’s first year on the job, they must protect the ball.
After Burton’s interception last year, and already trailing 17-0, quarterback John Brantley threw another on Florida’s third drive. The Crimson Tide capitalized, scoring 14 points off UF giveaways, and entered halftime with a commanding 24-3 lead.
In the 2009 SEC Championship Game, Tim Tebow threw a critical fourth-quarter interception that erased all hope of a comeback. And in Atlanta in 2008, with Alabama driving for a late score, it was Joe Haden’s pick of John Parker Wilson that sealed the win and sent Florida to Miami for the BCS Championship Game.
“Any kind of turnover throughout the game is a momentum swing,” Brantley said Monday. “Whenever you can get that, it definitely goes in your favor.”
At the beginning of his weekly press conference summing up the previous weekend’s game, Muschamp always begins with turnover ratio. While Muschamp has professed time and again that he is not a “stats guy,” there is always one he highlights, even back in August before games were played.
Muschamp has said, and players have echoed him, that the goal is to force three turnovers each game.
“We always try to put pressure on ourselves to get at least three or four turnovers a game,” linebacker Jelani Jenkins said. “It’s always important. If you get three turnovers in a game, then chances are you’re probably going to win the game.”
So far this season, Florida has forced seven turnovers on defense, while allowing seven on offense — not exactly Muschamp’s formula for success. In wins against FAU and UAB, Florida posted a negative-2 margin. Against Tennessee and Kentucky, that number increased.
Florida forced six turnovers — four interceptions, two fumbles — in wins against the Volunteers and Wildcats, and that number could have been higher if not for several dropped picks and another called back because of a pass interference penalty.
Florida defensive tackle Omar Hunter said the defense has adjusted to Muschamp’s and Dan Quinn’s new scheme and is starting to hit its stride.
“That’s just the maturity of the defense — everyone coming together,” Hunter said. “Early on in the season we were still trying to figure each other out, and when opportunities presented themselves we didn’t take advantage of them.
“We’re starting to do that now.”
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
Trey Burton (8) threw an interception on Florida’s first drive in a loss to Alabama last season. Safety Josh Evans said the costly turnover broke down the Gators mentally, causing the team to lose focus.
