Gators endure another painful homecoming
GAINESVILLE – This year was supposed to be different.
Instead, Dan Mullen’s Florida Gators looked a lot like Jim McElwain’s former team did a season ago against Missouri.
The difference in Saturday’s dispiriting 38-17 defeat is these Gators still had plenty to play for this time against the Tigers. Much of the day, it was difficult to tell.
Missouri entered the day winless in the SEC. Meanwhile, a 10-win season and a New Year’s Six bowl remained at stake for the No. 11 Gators (6-3, 4-3), despite last week’s 19-point loss to Georgia.
But a week after a gut-wrenching 15-14 defeat to Kentucky on the game’s final play, the Tigers pounced on the listless Gators to grab a 21-3 lead and never looked back, handing UF its fourth loss on homecoming weekend in six seasons.
“Harsh reality for us as a team,” Mullen said. “A little bit of a reality check for the guys. We might have a little inflated opinion of ourselves.”
Mullen added his players weren’t doing “all the little things you need to do win a football game [that] we did do early in the year.”
A second-half quarterback
change by Mullen did give the Gators a momentary lift, but the Tigers’ offense and quarterback Drew Lock would not be denied in front of a hostile announced crowd of 80,017.
Mullen was eager to see how his team would respond after rival Georgia eliminated UF from the SEC race a week earlier. Revenge offered further motivation for the Gators after last season’s 45-16 beatdown at Mizzou, just six days after McElwain’s ouster as coach.
Mullen did not like what he saw from his team, which now has been outscored 74-33 during the past two weeks.
“Obviously a disappointing performance by us,” Mullen said. “That’s on the coaches.”
Last season’s Missouri loss was the low point of UF’s miserable 2017 season. Saturday’s no-show against the Tigers marked the nadir of Mullen’s Gainesville.
The game also might have signaled the end of Feleipe Franks’ time as UF’s starting quarterback. Franks has had his share of rough moments under center for the Gators. Rarely has he been worse than Saturday, when the boos in the Swamp rained down on the redshirt sophomore.
Off the mark from the game’s outset, Franks never improved as UF fell behind 35-10. Mullen has stood firmly behind Franks all season, but finally had seen enough with five minutes left in the third quarter and his quarterback just 9-of-22 passing for 84 yards.
Redshirt sophomore Kyle Trask stepped in and immediately led UF to a touchdown, completing his first passes of his college career. Facing fourth-and-goal on the Gators’ 8-yard line, Trask sensed a blitz off his right side and quickly got rid of the ball to a diving Josh Hammond in the end zone to cut Missouri’s lead to first season in 35-17.
Trask’s accuracy and pocket presence gave fans something to cheer on a demoralizing day, but his efforts were too little too late to bring back the Gators.
“We were behind. I wanted to do something different,” Mullen said. “What we were doing wasn’t working.”
Similar to their starting quarterback, UF’s defense was no match for Lock and the Tigers (5-4, 1-4).
After gaining just 13 yards on its first two drives, Missouri’s attack found its rhythm.
Explosive plays have been UF’s Achilles heel all season. Missouri had its share, finishing with seven plays 20 yards or longer. UF managed just two such plays.
The Tigers’ offensive balance and overall execution was even more impressive.
A season after setting an SEC record with 44 touchdown throws, Lock entered the day with just one in conference play in 2018. Against the Gators, the Tigers’ senior had three touchdown passes and finished 24-of-32 passing for 250 yards.
Missouri’s run game chipped in another 223 yards as the Tigers racked up 473, the most allowed by UF this season. The Gators have allowed 902 yards the past two weeks.
Opponents also are 19 of 32 on third down, including 11 of 17 by the Tigers.
As the final minutes bled off the game clock and Missouri made its way down the field once again, the Swamp had become a ghost town. The Tigers had ruined another UF homecoming.
In 2014, Missouri beat the Gators 42-13 to set the wheels in motion for Will Muschamp’s eventual firing. Following a 4-7 finish a year ago, Mullen’s first season at UF has been a success but has lost some serious momentum the past two weeks.
How Mullen’s Gators bounce back will be especially interesting. Muschamp returns to the Swamp next Saturday with South Carolina.
“’We get a great opportunity to see where we’re at as a program,” Mullen said. “When things get tough, where are we?”