
Things have changed in the SEC East and in particular in Gainesville, Fla.
That’s where Will Muschamp’s Gators have put a stranglehold on the SEC East with a gritty offense, an opportunistic, hard-hitting defense and sound special teams.
With its latest victory, a 44-11 win over No. 7 South Carolina, Florida ran up a ton of points without a lot of yardage. Those points came thanks to a defense that turned the ball over to the offense with short fields, which led to points. Three of quarterback Jeff Driskel’s four touchdown passes came after South Carolina turnovers.
“I mean we scored 44 tonight, we ran the ball effectively, we hit some passes where we needed to,” Driskel said. “Obviously there’s room for improvement, but I thought we played well on offense tonight.”
To date, Florida has beaten every team that showed up on the schedule and that wasn’t always the case for the Gatros the past couple of years.
Just last season, in Muschamp’s first as a head coach anywhere, the Gators got off to a hot start by zipping through September undefeated just as they did in 2010. The problems came when the calendar flipped over to October and the winning stopped. The Gators lost three of four October games in 2010 and did not post an October victory last season.
But this year Florida has treated October just as if it were still September, which means the wins have just kept coming for the Gators, who now sit on top of the SEC East —with Georgia this weekend realistically the only remaining potential stumbling block between Florida and the SEC Championship Game.
“We’re definitely mentally stronger” Driskel said. “You’re not going to score touchdowns on every drive, you’re not going to run for 200 yards on every team, but when we have to have big runs, we’re going to be able to get them. We did that [against South Carolina], and we hit some big pass plays in the red zone when we needed to. We’ve gotten a lot better each and every game.”
Senior wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. sees the difference in last year’s team compared to this year’s team.
“Going through what we went through in October last year and then coming back this year and doing what we’re doing, it’s definitely a better feeling and it’s a positive thing for our team,” he said. “Our team has matured, some guys grew up and right now we’re finishing out ball games and doing it together as a team.”
The performance of the Gators this year as opposed to the past two years is pleasing to everybody.
“I like this better,” said Muschamp, who has beaten both Les Miles and Steve Spurrier already this season.
But Georgia, a team that lost 35-7 to South Carolina two weeks ago, is the next stop and, yes, the calendar will still read October when the two teams meet in Jacksonville.
“We’re not worried about it. At the end of the day, it all depends on how we play next Saturday,” Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said when asked about playing the No. 2 Gators. “We know we have to play an unbelievable game offensively, defensively and special teams if we want to have a chance to win that game so we just have to be ready to go.”
The Gators are hoping the ghosts of Octobers past have been buried for good this year. …
Around the rest of the SEC this weekend, things went pretty much according to form although for Georgia, the Kentucky game was a lot closer than the Bulldogs were anticipating. It took two late touchdown passes from Murray to finally nail down the 29-24 victory.
“Kentucky had time to get their plan together and they’ve got good personnel. They do a lot of really good things,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I have respect for what they have done in the past and how they played tonight. Like I said, I think they have played a lot better at home than they have away. We caught them at home and we got a good SEC victory on the road, I think there is a lot to be said for that.”
Outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins knows the Bulldogs have to put the Wildcats in the rear view mirror and start thinking about the task at hand, which is the No. 2 Gators.
“We have to look at film, but it is going to be pretty easy because we know we have to focus on next week,” he said. “We can’t be depressed. It just goes to show that any team can win and any team can lose.” …
It is hard to imagine, but Vanderbilt’s win over Auburn was not an upset. Even though the Commodores made mistakes that usually cost them games in the past, Auburn couldn’t take advantage of them and a disastrous season got even a little darker for Tigers coach Gene Chizik.
“We have to continue to go to work. The bottom line is we have to find these wins in the fourth quarter,” Chizik said. “We got some turnovers defensively, but we have to continue to do that. We have to close these games out at the end. (Our defense made a) very critical play there at the end, and the defense came up with the football. It is all about winning the fourth quarter and it is all about winning the game. It is disappointing that we haven’t closed the door on it.”