One of the worst parts of the season is already in the past for the Gators.
They haven’t played the toughest teams on their schedule, and their games haven’t had the highest stakes. But Florida came out of one of its tougher two-game road trips in recent memory without a blemish on its record and will only have to play one Southeastern Conference game on the road the rest of the season.
After winning their first two SEC games at Texas A&M and Tennessee, the No. 14 Gators (3-0, 2-0 SEC) return home to face Kentucky (1-2) on Saturday at 12:21 p.m.
“It’ll definitely be nice playing at home,” said junior offensive lineman Kyle Koehne, who made his first career start at right tackle last Saturday against Tennessee. “Playing in The Swamp is a huge advantage, but yeah, I mean I think it was great training playing in such big stadiums and with such noise. It helps our communication, a bunch of things, and I think it’ll just give us more of an advantage when we play at home.”
For the first time in 20 years, UF has only one SEC road game remaining on its schedule after three weeks. In 1992, Florida won its opener at home against Kentucky before losing at Tennessee and Mississippi. UF then went on a seven-game winning streak during which the first three games were in The Swamp. The last was Florida’s final conference away game, a 41-21 victory against Vanderbilt.
The early road games, while daunting when they first appeared on the schedule, have paid dividends for Florida.
“We played two good teams and for our kids to go in there and come out with victories, I think there’s a big payoff for that,” offensive coordinator Brent Pease said. “It builds their confidence and makes them take a bigger step of wanting to improve and knowing what the next task at hand is.”
The early road success also provided new starting quarterback Jeff Driskel with valuable experience. His passer rating improved with each contest, he has yet to throw an interception and he showed increased pocket awareness against the Volunteers, as he was not sacked after taking eight sacks against the Aggies.
“In both games we expected him to play well, and he did,” coach Will Muschamp said. “(He) executed extremely well. I think (he) grew from Week 1 there at A&M to Week 2 there at Tennessee. … I’m sure it’s been a nice shot of confidence for him and, more than anything, the players around him. They’ve played well, but they have now, instead of the uncertainty maybe of how he will play, they know he’s going to play well.”
Pease said Driskel benefitted from his exposure to the hostile environments of Kyle Field and Neyland Stadium. He was forced to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage while dealing with relentless noise from the opposing crowds. Considering he was up to the challenge, making the same play calls at home is not expected to be too difficult.
“He’s keeping us in tempo and he’s getting us going,” Pease said. “We’re getting the ball off. We’re not getting up there and letting the defense get aligned so much and waiting and being able to look and get their cleats in the ground and their eyes to the ball as much. He’s doing it much quicker and our guys are able to react and sometimes, defensively, they’re out of position.”
Florida’s opponent is not riding the same high as Saturday approaches. Kentucky fell to 1-2 last week with a 32-31 overtime loss at home to Western Kentucky.
One of the few bright spots this season for the Wildcats has been quarterback Max Smith, who leads the SEC with 966 yards passing. He has thrown eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy said the secondary is aware of the challenges the Wildcats will present, as well as what the Gators will have to do to handle them.
“Make plays,” Purifoy said. “Break up passes. They’ve got a good passing game. As you can tell, (they) lead the SEC in passing, so I mean, find ways to stop them.”
Purifoy and the rest of the defense should have plenty of crowd support on Saturday night. When asked if he feels like the road wins have caused more of a buzz around the team than in years past, safety Josh Evans didn’t hesitate.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Sophomore quarterback Jeff Driskel (6) looks for an open receiver during UF's victory against Tennessee at Neyland Stadium on Saturday. For the first time in 20 years, Florida has just one true Southeastern Conference road game remaining.
