Gators Rested and Rejuvenated for Stretch Run

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — By the time they tee it up, one of the two teams at EverBank Field will be playing just its second game in 28 days.

That, of course, would be the Florida Gators, who got an unplanned bye week in the second week of October, thanks to Hurricane Matthew, and joined their rival and next opponent, the Georgia Bulldogs, with an accustomed open date in advance of their 94th meeting Saturday in Jacksonville.

Both teams used their time off to focus a bunch on themselves, with the Southeastern Conference East Division-leading and No. 14 Gators (5-1, 3-1) trying to fix some kinks in the offense, while the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-3) processed — and no doubt seethed — over a homecoming loss to Vanderbilt that basically eliminated them from the league race.

So here comes UF, with a chance to further its conference cause, facing a wounded UGA bunch that would like nothing better than spoil things for their adversary to the south.

Yes, this is definitely late October.

"We've put ourselves in good position, but nothing means anything if we don't win," Florida senior safety Marcus Maye said Monday. "We have to take care of us, worry about us, just play our game. If we do that, we control what we can control."

With a one-game lead over Tennessee, the Gators can make that frustrating loss in Knoxville last month a footnote to their football season by winning the final four SEC games on their schedule. That's the goal, but like Maye said, the only one that needs to concern them is the next one.

UF has won two straight, narrowly defeating Vandy on the road and pounding Missouri 40-14 two weekends ago. With the exception of a rushing attack that produced 287 yards against the Tigers, the Florida offense — be it with turnovers, penalties or inexactness in the passing game — has fallen well below Coach Jim McElwain's standards.

With that in mind, sometimes open dates can be helpful. McElwain said as much Monday. He was enthused by the way his players returned refreshed and rejuvenated for the stretch run, but also determined to fix the sort of issues that led to three Luke Del Rio interceptions, an absurd eight false-start infractions against Missouri and some missed opportunities through the air.

"We're nowhere near where we're going to be, and yet we're getting some parts that are actually starting to step up and realize how good they can be," McElwain said. "Part of it is understanding, you know, you can really be good if you allow yourself to be good. How do you do that? By not shooting yourself in the foot with unforced errors, yet when an error happens, [having] enough confidence in your ability to come and overcome that."

Some of that comes with experience. The way McElwain sees it, though, the season is more than halfway over, so youth and inexperience is no longer an excuse.

"I like where we're going, I like where we're heading," he continued. "We've got a ton of young guys, obviously, that are playing. And yet at the same time, it's time that they quit being young. Let's go ahead and be as good as we can be."

As for those confounding slew of false-start penalties.

"It was addressed pretty … yeah … pretty point on," McElwain said. "It gets back to unforced errors."

Del Rio had a few of those too. As a fourth-year junior, he's not young. He is, however, short on experience, considering the first start of his career was the season opener against Massachusetts and he was sidelined for a pair of SEC dates — the loss at Tennessee and win at Vandy — before returning against Mizzou and promptly firing a trio of picks.

Last week was about correcting mistakes and honing mechanics (such as footwork) that looked to be off after three weeks of favoring his injured left knee.

32658 — QB Luke Del Rio used the bye week to fix some correctable errors from the win over Missouri.

"The first thing I wanted to do was just practice, just kind of get it out of my system, get my feet right," Del Rio said. "That's really what it came down to is bad feet -- bad feet the whole game -- but all of it is correctable and we're making those corrections and moving forward."

The off week allowed the likes of defensive linemen Jordan Sherit (out against Missouri following arthroscopic knee surgery) and Joey Ivie (out two games with a thumb injury) some more time to heal, which may allow them to get on the field against the Bulldogs. The status of linebacker and leading tackler Jarrad Davis (ankle) will be determined later in the week.

The Gators rank No. 1 in the SEC in total defense (252.5 yards per game) and scoring defense (12 points per game), but could use Davis against a Bulldogs offense that has lacked for consistency, but has some punch with true freshman quarterback Jacob Eason (54.3 percent, 1,366 yards, 9 TDs, 5 INTs) and a pair of running backs in Nick Chubb (586 yards, 5 TDs) and Sony Michel (358 yards, 1 TD).

Defensively, Georgia ranks fifth in the league and 20th nationally. Florida and its backfield-by-committee may have plowed through Missouri on the ground, but UGA is surrendering just 111 rushing yards per game, which is third in the SEC and 17th in the nation.

All these numbers make for good pregame fodder, but any fan of this rivalry— whether in orange/blue or red/black — knows that statistics and records often have a way of turning irrelevant in this storied game on the St. John's River.

And so many times, it's been the team with the most to lose … that lost.

"We understand where we are. We talk about it, but it's not our main focus," Maye said. "We're taking care of the 'now,' as Coach Mac likes to talk about it."

For now, the "now" is Georgia.

Gators Calendar

Gators Rested and Rejuvenated for Stretch Run

Players Mentioned

Jarrad Davis

Luke Del Rio

Joey Ivie

Marcus Maye

Jordan Sherit

Footer

Upcoming Events

Gators Rested and Rejuvenated for Stretch Run

Related News

Players Mentioned

Jarrad Davis

Luke Del Rio

Joey Ivie

Marcus Maye

Jordan Sherit

Related Videos

Footer