Florida’s football team may have had a slightly shorter offseason than the majority of Division I football teams, but it still had 238 days since its last snap of meaningful football to prepare for Miami.
But months of offseason preparation was nearly all for naught.
“I mean, we go back and we talk about our plan to win and how we want to win games,” coach Dan Mullen said after Saturday’s 24-20 win in Orlando. “And we certainly didn’t do that tonight with turning the ball over, with not scoring touchdowns when we get down on the red zone, some critical penalties at critical times.”
The Gators’ offensive play-calling neutralized their own playmaking threats more than the Hurricanes’ could have hoped to do themselves. The defense had momentary lapses — including a few glaring missed tackles — but it executed the game plan well for three and a half quarters.
Then all discipline disappeared, and UF (1-0) tried its best to hand the game to the ‘Canes (0-1). Luckily for Florida, UM’s mistakes cost it a chance at a win.
So the Gators escaped Orlando with a win over the Hurricanes and a long list of items to work on over the next two weeks.
To start, UF’s receivers must play a more prominent role in the offense the rest of the season.
Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes, first and second on the team in receptions in 2018, respectively, combined for two catches on five targets and just 24 yards. Josh Hammond and Kadarius Toney compensated for the lack of volume. Quarterback Feleipe Franks’ top two targets each saw breakout plays of more than 60 yards, but relying on such plays in the future is risky.
Florida’s four scoring drives went 79, 33, 11 and 80 yards. The two longer drives banked on Toney’s elusiveness and Franks’ deep ball to Hammond. The 11-yard drive resulted in a touchdown but came after a muffed punt. The 33-yard drive started in Miami territory, yet only yielded a field goal.
It is a positive that the Gators had explosive plays and good field position, but that won’t always be the case. The way the offense stalled against UM despite an average starting field position of the Florida 37-yard line shows that UF’s ball movement left a lot to be desired.
Miami quarterback Jarren Williams didn’t exactly put on a clinic on how to hold onto the ball, but the ‘Canes recovered all of their fumbles aside from the muffed punt. The Gators cannot say the same.
Florida lost a fumble on a miscue between Franks and Lamical Perine and another on a pitch to Malik Davis. Hands drills may be in order after the Gators’ looseness with the ball and inability to come up with more than one of the ‘Canes’ fumbles.
There were a lot of bad decisions in the final five minutes of the game, so much so that Mullen said “I think I aged like ten years” of the final stretch.
That period began with a Florida pass play while nursing a four-point lead. Franks was facing pressure and threw into coverage, instead of taking a sack and letting the clock run.
That mistake gave Miami an opportunity to win, but the Hurricanes exhausted their explosiveness and made mistakes of their own. But twice — once inexplicably on 4th and 34 — Florida bailed Miami out on pass interference fouls.
Decision-making, offensive play-calling and execution should be the team’s primary focus during Florida’s bye week and its tune-up against Tennessee-Martin before a test at Kentucky.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood. Contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Junior receiver Kadarius Toney scored a 66-yard touchdown off a screen pass in the first quarter of UF’s 24-20 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
