Dan Mullen could have avoided the question. He could have used the same evasive answers, repeated so often around the coaching world. But the Florida Gators coach was refreshingly honest. He admitted he made a mistake in the closing minutes of the team’s 52-46 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship on Saturday.
Mullen used one of his timeouts after the team’s final touchdown of the game, a 22-yarder from quarterback Kyle Trask to tight end Kyle Pitts. The Gators would eventually go for a 2-point conversion, and they’d get it. But they weren’t organized, initially, which meant Mullen had to call a timeout on the 2-pointer, an embarrassing misuse of a precious resource. Florida could’ve used that timeout later in the game, perhaps on Alabama’s ensuing possession. The Gators got the ball back once more, but had just 18 seconds left in the game — not enough time to score.
Here’s what Mullen said, via AL.com:
“That was bad clock management on my part. We should have had it ready to go for two. Our thought, though, is we’re going for two right there, we’re going to try the on-side kick. We’re here to win. Would have given us two two-point conversions. If we didn’t get the first one, we’d have to get the second one to tie. If we got the first one, all we needed there was an extra point to win the game at the end. That was the thought process to go for two.”
“That was a bad job by me, we had to use that timeout there. Would have loved to have that timeout and given us an extra 40 seconds of the ball to try to get the and-one touchdown.”
The decision to go for two points was a good one. And, of course, it’s easy to like the outcome: a conversion. But in the process of getting two points, the Gators lost a timeout, which made it difficult to get the touchdown they still needed to score — and never did. Time was of the utmost importance.
One week ago, I was writing about how Mullen came off as salty — on a number of levels — after a loss to LSU, which feetured featured an infamous shoe toss. But this week, he was honest and accountable. He didn’t point fingers. Considering the stakes of this game for his program — with a win likely putting them in the College Football Playoff — Mullen’s decision to put the blame on himself was a pleasant dose of blunt self-evaluation.
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