Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gators are hoping to avoid trap
As scuffling Vanderbilt looms Saturday, Mullen says his team must look inward
GAINESVILLE — Unlike Nick Saban, Dan Mullen is not a big believer in trap games.
Mullen feels like the entire SEC schedule is fraught with peril, including Saturday’s visit to struggling Vanderbilt — losers to the Florida Gators in all but one season since 1988.
Coming off the program’s first win against a top-5 foe in three years, the No. 14 Gators’ toughest opponent is themselves, their coach believes.
UF (5-1, 2-1 SEC) heads to Nashville for its third road game in four weeks. This follows last Saturday’s emotional LSU win and comes before the season’s only bye week. After that, rival and reigning SEC champion Georgia awaits.
Last week, Saban called his top-ranked Crimson Tide’s visit to Arkansas a trap game, given the Razorbacks had lost nine of their previous 10 SEC games. Alabama coasted to a 65-31 win.
Regardless of opponent, Mullen said it requires a lot of effort and commitment from a team to make progress week to week.
“A trap game, as people define it, I guess is: OK, you’ve had several tough games in a row,” Mullen said Monday. “I can look at our guys this week and say that we’ve played three really tough games in a row and we have a bye week the following week and the mindset can be, ‘Coach, I can’t wait to catch my breath. I can’t wait to just take one play off at practice.’ That’s where a definition of that could come.
“I’ll be honest with you, more than the opponent you’re facing, is it’s yourself and your own attitude of the mental toughness of: Can we continually improve and get up every day?”
Mullen said his players gradually have improved and practiced a little bit harder with each passing week.
But if UF lets off the gas at all in preparing for Vanderbilt, it would undermine much of the work Mullen’s players have put in since a humbling loss Sept. 8 to Kentucky.
The Gators are feeling good about themselves, as are their fans. That can change quickly, especially in the world of social media, where opinions can change in real time.
“That’s the world we live in,” Mullen said. “I tell them we won, so guess what? Twitter’s gonna tell you how great you are. So if you like being told how great you are, get back to work, and let’s win again. If you like being told that you stink, then you don’t have to work very hard, and everyone will tell us we won’t win the game and they’ll tell us how bad we are.
“Everyone is patting you on the back only about six inches higher than they’re kicking you in the rear end. I like the pat on the back rather than the kick in the rear end, so let’s just keep working to keep it six inches higher.”