NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Florida blocked a field goal, picked up 54 yards on a fake punt and got a 60-yard kick return out of a previously slumping Andre Debose during Saturday’s 31-17 win against Vanderbilt. The Gators special teams have come a long way in 2012.
Following Florida’s 27-14 win against Bowling Green on Sept. 1, coach Will Muschamp called his team’s effort on special teams “sloppy.”
Said Muschamp on Sept. 3: “(I’m) very disappointed, (with) as much time as we spend on special teams around here.”
Five games later, his tone has changed. Key special teams plays proved crucial to the Gators’ two-touchdown victory against the Commodores.
With Vanderbilt threatening to pull within one point of the lead during the fourth quarter, redshirt senior Earl Okine blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt.
“I jumped pretty high,” Okine said. “As soon as he snapped the ball, I got off the ball, pushed him back and jumped.”
Four plays later, Solomon Patton took a jet sweep on a fake punt 54 yards up the left sideline before he was pushed out of bounds on Vanderbilt’s 3-yard line.
On Sept. 15, UF attempted a fake punt in its own territory during a 37-20 win against Tennessee. The Gators came up short and had to rely on a key defensive stop.
Following Patton’s run, a holding call against Frankie Hammond Jr. pushed Florida back to Vanderbilt’s 13-yard line. On the next play, Jeff Driskel ran into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
“It just changed the whole game. It can definitely bring down an opponent,” Patton said of his run. “When I got it and I looked up field, I saw so much grass I just got real excited, and I just took off.”
Said Muschamp: “I got tired of practicing it and just wanted to run it. We got the edge there. Jon Bostic made a fantastic block. Frankie Hammond made a fantastic block. And Solomon Patton does that speed sweep very well.”
The Gators’ special teams came up big after a Commodores touchdown cut UF’s lead to 21-14.
On the ensuing kickoff, Debose caught the ball at the 3-yard line and returned it 60 yards to Vanderbilt’s 37-yard line.
Florida turned the favorable field position into a 26-yard field goal by Caleb Sturgis.
The kick gave the Gators a two-score lead.
“(It was) huge — flipped the field,” Muschamp said of Debose’s return. “They had the momentum at home, all of that good stuff. We blocked it extremely well.”
Following Florida’s first touchdown, the Gators lined up in a swinging gate formation. Trey Burton took the snap and ran into the end zone, putting UF ahead 8-7.
“It was something we’ve been working on for a while, had it early in the year and really the numbers never presented themselves,” Muschamp said. “We felt good about it, and Trey executed it very well.”
Sturgis was 3 of 3 on field goal attempts. Sturgis and LSU kicker Drew Alleman are tied for the Southeastern Conference lead with 11 made field goals each.
Against Vanderbilt, Kyle Christy averaged 46.2 yards per kick on five punts. He pinned the Commodores inside their own 20 three times.
Christy currently ranks sixth nationally with 46.4 yards per punt.
He has stuck the opposition inside its own 20-yard line on 41.4 percent of his 29 punts this season.
Leading up to Saturday’s game, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin addressed Florida’s success on special teams this season.
Franklin praised the Gators’ unit, but said there was no secret to their success.
“I don’t think it’s anything unique to them,” Franklin said on Oct. 10.
“It’s not like they’re running a scheme that nobody else is doing.”
Florida’s methods may not be unique, but so far in 2012, its results are.
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Florida wide receiver Solomon Patton runs the ball for 54 yards to execute a fake punt on a 4th-and-5 against Vanderbilt in the third quarter on Saturday.
