In a matchup where the Florida Gators were favored by more than five touchdowns, the Samford Bulldogs put up an astounding 52 points. Florida’s offense was able to keep its foot on the gas pedal, and guide the Gators to a win in a disappointing performance by Florida’s defense. It’s now evidently clear that the Gators’ problems extend beyond Todd Grantham and Todd Hevesy. Athletic director Scott Stricklin now needs to make his assessment as to whether or not Dan Mullen is fit to be the head coach at Florida.
Recap
Offense
Other than a few minor mistakes, there’s nothing to complain about on the offensive side for Florida; scoring 70 points usually means that you had a good day on offense. Dan Mullen still refused to play his best quarterback, sitting Anthony Richardson on the bench instead of Emory Jones. Honestly, either quarterback for Florida would’ve won this game.
Emory had an outstanding day with 465 passing yards and six passing touchdowns. He also had nearly 90 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Mullen only featured his best running back later in the game, and Dameon Pierce had only seven rushes but finished with 80 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Florida’s wide receivers also came up big, but they were playing against a below average secondary. Kemore Gamble had six catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns; Justin Shorter also finished with six catches and nearly 100 receiving yards. Everyone knows that Mullen is an offensive genius, and Florida has out-gained the other team in all but one game this season. However, much bigger issues exist on the defensive side of the ball.
Defense
Christian Robinson became the new defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators after Todd Grantham was fired. Now, it may not be fair to criticize Robinson after one game, but there has to be accountability on the defensive staff and players. Again, Samford’s offense put up 42 points in the first half and half a hundred in the game.
Quarterback Liam Welch had 400 passing yards and four touchdowns for the Samford Bulldogs in this game. His performance felt quite similar to Emory’s, as he made the right plays in the running game by rushing for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Florida’s defense just could not stop the deep ball from Welch. In fact, three receivers finished with more than 90 receiving yards for Samford. The Gators continued to struggle to tackle in this game.
Florida knew that Samford’s offense was one-dimensional, and the Gators’ reinforced this by limiting the running backs. However, the defense just fell out of sync when trying to limit Welch’s legs and the passing game. Believe it or not, Florida’s defense has now allowed an average of 43.75 points over the last four games; pitiful.
This is the most points that Florida has allowed in a game against an FCS opponent since the FBS/FCS split in 1978.
Concluding Thoughts
It will be interesting to see what takes place for the Florida Gators’ program during this next week. Will Dan Mullen still have the opportunity to be the head coach at Florida for next week’s game against Missouri? Regardless, Florida is now one win away from being bowl eligible with a season record of 5-5. The Gators need to pull out a victory against either Missouri or Florida State to keep the bowl streak alive. Dan Mullen can still keep his job, but he needs his team to make a bold statement in its remaining two games.
FL Teams has partnered with “The AJ Show”. AJ covered the Samford Bulldogs vs. Florida Gators game! Check out his play-by-play reactions along with smack talk from the game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW9FO1ccn2M&t=11499s