Mullen: ‘You gotta win at home’
GAINESVILLE — Homecoming weekend has been anything but a celebration lately for the Florida Gators.
Coach Dan Mullen wants to replicate past glories and set a new course for the future, beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday against Missouri.
UF’s SEC title hopes may have ended a week ago against Georgia, but Mullen expects one day conference championships again will have to pass through Gainesville. He wants the Gators to be ready. A visit from Mizzou begins a threegame homestand during which UF can begin to re-establish the Swamp’s reputation as one of college football’s
best home-field advantages.
“To win in the SEC, you gotta win at home,” Mullen said. “You’re not going to find many teams that win the SEC championship with home losses. Home-field advantage is so critical.
“One of the things we always do, you know when we’re in the Swamp, this is our home. Protect our stadium.”
In recent seasons, UF let too many teams invade the Swamp and steal wins, even on the one day when the Gators are not supposed to lose.
UF has lost three of its past five homecoming games after losing just one of them during the previous 25 seasons. Those defeats highlighted a troubling trend.
Will Muschamp was just 17-8 in the Swamp, including losses during six of his final eight home games. Jim McElwain teams won 12 of their first 13 games in Gainesville, but lost three of four to end the 2017 season.
During Mullen’s four seasons (2005-08) as UF’s offensive coordinator, the Gators were 25-2 at home. When he arrived at Mississippi State, Mullen was determined to turn Davis Wade Stadium into a homefield advantage.
To drive home the point, Mullen made his players run stadium stairs during the offseason for every home loss.
“Year 1, we had a couple losses at home at Mississippi State,” Mullen said. “But after that we were pretty good. I think it must have sunk in.”
The Gators already have gotten the message.
Mullen made his players run three sets of “stadiums” for the three homes losses suffered last season.
Sophomore defensive tackle Kyree Campbell cannot forget how his lungs burned and his legs were as stable as spaghetti holding up his 6-foot-3, 304-pound frame.
UF already is on the hook for one set of stadiums for a Sept. 8 loss to Kentucky, or about 4,000 steps that would test a Himalayan Sherpa.
“We refuse to lose any more home games,” Campbell said Monday.
The resolve of the No. 11 Gators (6-2, 4-2) should be tested by struggling Missouri (4-4, 0-4).
Don’t let the snake-bitten Tigers’ record fool you. Two of their SEC losses came on the final play from scrimmage, including last week’s 15-14 heartbreaker to Kentucky.
Mullen has made it clear to his players the wounded Tigers will be dangerous.
Those who experienced last season’s 4-7 collapse do not need to be reminded. A 45-16 loss at Missouri six days after McElwain’s ouster was the season’s low point.
Receiver Josh Hammond said he feels like the Gators owe the Tigers payback.
“You know, last year those guys really beat up on us pretty bad,” he said. “I think a lot of guys remember that loss and remember the feeling.”
Other than a 39-10 loss to top-ranked Alabama, the 2018 Tigers have been in every game despite a step back by record-setting quarterback Drew Lock. Under first-year offensive coordinator Derek Dooley, Lock has just one touchdown throw in conference play a season after he set the SEC mark with 44 touchdown passes during a season.
Leading receiver Emmanuel Hall, who averages an SEC-best 107.5 receiving yards, returns this week after missing four games with injury. At 6-foot-5, 255 pounds, sophomore tight end Albert Okwuegbunam is a matchup nightmare and has 16 touchdown catches in two seasons.
“They can put up points with anybody in the country,” Mullen said.
A week after managing a season-low 245 yards during the Georgia loss, the Gators will look to control the clock and keep the ball out of Lock’s hands. UF’s run game averages 193.9 yards and continues to improve, but Missouri’s run defense is respectable and could force quarterback Feleipe Franks to make more plays than he did a week ago.
Franks had just one completion longer than 13 yards against Georgia and had two turnovers, giving him six during the past four games.
UF is favored by just six points, or technically a field goal due to three points awarded to the home team. Similar to UF’s Oct. 6 upset of LSU, Mullen hopes the Swamp is worth a much bigger advantage on homecoming Saturday.
The 46-year-old is eager to see how his Gators and their fans rise to the occasion.
“We want to see how we handle this adversity moving forward,” Mullen said. “I’m also interested to see how the Gator Nation handles it as well. Last time we were here in the stadium we had an unbelievable home-field advantage and it really showed with how we played.
“So, it’s a great challenge for everybody in the Gator Nation to pack the Swamp again and create that home-field advantage for us.”
Follow our Gators coverage on Twitter at @osgators and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/osgators. Edgar can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com