Florida’s football team has been favored in every game this season. And it has won every game this season.
Some of those wins, however, were more convincing than others.
The win over Miami was ugly. The beatdown of Tennessee-Martin was scripted. The win against Kentucky was eked out.
But the blowout of Tennessee was dominant and the kind of win Florida was looking for.
There has been plenty to dissect about the team’s play through four games. Suspect play at the running back position, turning the ball over too often, not generating enough turnovers. Virtually all of that criticism is valid.
But No. 9 Florida left little room for critique in its 34-3 win against the Volunteers on Saturday.
UF’s game score of 85 against UT was its best of the season, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. Game score is “a measure of game performance including how well the team controlled the game along with the final result, accounting for site and opponent strength.” The scoring system goes from 0-100.
Tennessee being the lowest-ranked FBS team Florida has played based on FPI and that game being played at home shows just how dominant of a win it was for the Gators.
Kyle Trask threw for 293 yards in his first career start and Emory Jones added 20 totaling 313, a season-high for Florida. Running back Lamical Perine ran for a season-high 62 yards. And the defense held the Volunteers to three points, under 250 yards of offense and created four turnovers without two of its best defensive players in C.J. Henderson and Jabari Zuniga.
Linebacker Jonathan Greenard praised his team’s defense against the Volunteers, but hinted there’s still room for improvement.
“The crazy part is we’re only scratching the surface of what we really can do,” he said. “I’m excited about where we are right now.”
The Gators looked the part of a top-10 team against Tennessee.
Now it has to play three of them in a four-game span after Towson, starting with No. 7 Auburn in two weeks.
In another tuneup game for UF against FCS opponent Towson, it must work on establishing the run, avoid any major injuries and get healthy.
Two weeks ago against UT-Martin, Florida lost cornerback Henderson and receiver Kadarius Toney to injury. Luckily for the Gators, neither will likely be missed against the Tigers. But it must avoid losing more impact players on both sides of the ball this week.
Another player whom UF will need back against Auburn is defensive end Jabari Zuniga. He missed the Tennessee game with an ankle injury, but the defensive line still turned in a dominant performance without him, totaling four sacks and eight tackles for loss.
The Gators’ run game showed signs of improvement against Tennessee in the second half. But those garbage-time yards came when the game was all but already decided.
UF needs to work on establishing the run game earlier with Perine and Dameon Pierce, rather than just pounding the ball with them at the end of games when it already has a lead. That won’t always be the case, especially against Auburn, LSU and Georgia.
Coach Dan Mullen downplayed the team’s rushing struggles on Saturday.
“Yeah, I love running the ball, but hey, the benefit of it, if the run game is going to take some time, it’s a good thing we have some really good receivers,” he said.
The team has a chance against Towson to further tweak its rushing attack.
Florida has one last opportunity for a dominant win and to figure things out before one of the toughest stretches in the nation for any team.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood. Contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
