Florida football scored a huge road win on Saturday in Starkville against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 45-28. Sure, it was a battle between two of the lowest-rated SEC teams, but every conference win counts.
The Gators outperformed expectations overall but still showed a few warts in their game plan. The good news is that the quarterback duo looked great in Week 4, with [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] getting the lion’s share of the passing duties; the bad news is that the defense just cannot seem to get on the same page for an entire 40 minutes.
Immediately following the conclusion of the UF-MSU game, the Gators Wire staff convened to offer their respective good, bad and ugly takes. Take a look below at what we had to offer collectively.
Adam Dubbin
GOOD: Quarterback play was exceptional in this game. Mertz got a bulk of the plays under center and made the most of it; meanwhile, [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] also maximized his limited reps while demonstrating maturity beyond his years in his ability to be ready to play whenever his name is called.
Together, they tossed a combined 26-for-28 through the air for 277 yards and three touchdowns. Not too shabby.
BAD: Florida’s run defense left a great deal to be desired against a team that has struggled significantly through the first three games (373 yards on 89 total attempts) and allowed an embarrassing 240 yards but it took 56 attempts.
Overall, MSU scored far too many points for Napier to feel comfortable with — and almost added a touchdown as the clock expired. It was the most in four games this season for the ‘Dogs, in fact.
UGLY: Other than the defensive futility, Florida’s two fumbles — one of which resulted in a touchdown, fortunately — are probably the ugliest part of Florida’s performance on Saturday. Additionally, MSU had three fumbles to its credit — but UF only recovered one — so it all adds up to a bad day when it comes to loose balls.
David Rosenberg
GOOD: Mertz was excellent today even with Lagway going 7-for-7. Mississippi State’s defense was poor, but it’s still very difficult to complete 90% of passes against an SEC program. What’s even more encouraging is that Mertz was fairly efficient on mid-range and deep balls.
His bread and butter is still behind the line of scrimmage and within five yards, but Mertz showed some touch placing ball over the underneath defender and hitting his receivers in stride. Mertz also spread the ball well. He went to Chimere Dike just twice, both for gains, targeted true freshman Aidan Mizell a team-high five times and found all three of his tight ends throughout the game — two for touchdowns.
They say that Mertz has the benefit of experience on his side when comparing him to Lagway, and his decision-making was on display all afternoon.
BAD: Florida’s run defense looked bad for most of the afternoon. A goal-line stand to open the fourth quarter, six tackles for loss and two sacks will save the front seven some face, but they still allowed the SEC’s worst run game to put up 240 yards and score three times.
For context, Mississippi State put up 373 yards on the ground over its first three games. Allowing a rushing attack like that to go for 10-plus yards eight times is concerning. The defensive line is dealing with injuries — Jamari Lyons is out for the year and Joey Slackman is recovering from knee surgery —but that doesn’t excuse some of the missed tackles by the healthy players.
Some help from the second level of the defense would be nice, too. Grayson “Pup” Howard has been solid so far, but third-year linebacker Shemar James came into Week 4 with a 62.1 run defense grade, according to Pro Football Focus. That number needs to come up if Florida wants to compete in the second half of the season.
UGLY: Five penalties for 52 yards isn’t the worst we’ve seen from this Gators team, but the timing of the flags made them feel worse than their. Montrell Johnson was called for a blindside block to erase an Aidan Mizell touchdown, and Sharif Denson was flagged for pass interference twice on the same drive, once on fourth and short.
The Johnson call was questionable, but those mistakes by Denson will cost Florida a tight game against Kentucky or UCF. It’s the little things that can make a three-score win feel a lot closer than it actually is, and the broadcast reported that Florida’s defensive play-caller Ron Roberts believes the defense doesn’t believe in one another. It was a good win, but there’s still so much to clean up.
Aidan Gallardo
GOOD: The quarterback play was great to see from the Gators. Both Mertz and Lagway performed well and there were just two incompletions between the two combined. Mertz was 19-for-21 passing with 201 yards and three touchdowns while Lagway was 7-for-7 for 76 yards passing.
Mertz had a rushing touchdown as well. The rotating quarterbacks didn’t seem to affect Mertz or Lagway in terms of rhythm and with the help of the offensive line play today, the quarterbacks were given time to throw. For the most part, the quarterbacks were a huge reason why Florida won this game.
BAD: There is not enough consistency on defense. The Gators’ defense seems to let their foot off the gas whenever the offense scores. It’s as if they think that they can ease off the pressure since they have a lead.
Look, you’ll get away with it against sub-par teams but we’ve seen what happens when you play against a quality opponent. Florida needs to find a way to stay consistent with their defense throughout the entirety of the game.
UGLY: The run defense has been unacceptable. The Gators have had such a tough time stopping the run this season. Last week, they gave up 310 rushing yards against Texas A&M and against Mississippi State, they allowed 240 yards on the ground.
Poor tackling plays a vital role in this because it seems as if the first tackler often misses which allows the rusher to get those extra yards. Gap discipline is also a factor because that’s what prevents these wide-open holes from opening up for the rushers.
Up next for the Gators
The Gators will be out of action for Week 5 due to their bye week. Florida’s next opponent will be the UCF Knights on Oct. 5. The time is yet to be determined.
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