Bye week gives frustrated Gators chance to improve

GAINESVILLE — The sobering reality of what just happened appeared to overtake Jim McElwain.

The third-year Florida coach appeared to choose his words carefully while describing the second heartbreaking loss by the Gators in as many weeks, trying not let his emotions get the best of him.

But clearly, there was frustration.

"It hurt,” McElwain said following his team’s 19-17 loss to Texas A&M Saturday in the Swamp. “Our guys played hard. Didn't make a couple plays down the stretch that we needed to to come out on the right side of the scoreboard. I'll tell you what; they left it all out there.”

The Gators (3-3, 3-2 SEC) have

now lost back-to-back games for the first time since November 2016 and you have to go back to 2014 for the last time this program lost consecutive home games (LSU, Missouri).

And after winning 18 of its first 24 games under McElwain, the Gators have hit a rough patch during which they’ve won just four times of their past nine games.

Despite the recent struggles, the players aren’t pointing fingers at anyone — especially the coaching staff.

“Oh, yeah, no doubt,” junior offensive lineman Martez Ivey said when asked if the players had full confidence in the coaching staff. “I mean, they ain’t playing. We’re playing, you know?”

If there’s frustration, at least publicly, it’s about the past two winnable games that slipped away.

"Just the losing part and the way that we're losing, by a point or two,” said junior defensive lineman Cece Jefferson, who finished the game with five tackles including 2.0 tackles for loss. “We're a group of guys, you know, we'd rather lose by 55 than by one or two. That's what hurts the most.”

Florida tried to get Feleipe Franks going early in the Texas A&M game. The young quarterback started the game 6-of-8 passing during the opening drive as the Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a 29-yard Eddy Piñeiro field goal.

But Franks would struggle the rest of the way as the Aggies applied relentless pressure. Texas A&M entered Saturday’s showdown as the top team in the SEC in sacks and they continued the trend by sacking Franks five times.

“We knew they were good pass rushers, do a good job of pressuring the quarterback,” McElwain said. “They didn't disappoint. They did a good job of harassing us. We maybe got a little jumpy in there at times.”

Franks acknowledged he has room to improve.

“I can do a better job in a lot of aspects,” said Franks, who finished 17-of-26 passing for 129 with a seasonhigh two interceptions. “Ultimately, it’s my job to get the offense moving. There’s some series here and there where you want that to happen but I didn’t make that happen. Ultimately it’s on me and something to improve on.”

But perhaps the biggest disappointment against the Aggies was the Gators’ struggles on special teams.

After spending much of last week imploring the importance of not allowing Christian Kirk — the talented Texas A&M return specialist — to become a factor in the game, McElwain seemed beside himself explaining how his team failed to accomplish that feat.

Kirk’s 43-yard punt return late in the fourth quarter set up the Aggies’ 32-yard game-winning field goal by Daniel LaCamera.

“Yeah, that’s what’s supposed to happen, and it didn’t and it came back and bit us,” McElwain said, clearly perturbed by the play.

McElwain said the Gators need to regroup during their current bye week and prepare to face Georgia in two weeks.

“It’s hard to have a loss going into a bye week, yet we have an opportunity to work some things this week in practice,” he said. “We'll get some good work in getting ready for Georgia. I believe in these guys. I believe in this team and I will continue to do that and we'll continue to push and get a little bit better.”