Gators Won Opener But Know They Must Get Better
Sunday, September 4, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
The 25th-ranked Gators open conference play on Saturday against Kentucky.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- If he had wanted to, Jim McElwain could have ripped into the Gators publicly late Saturday night and few would have blinked an eye.
The Gators won, same as a season ago in their second game under McElwain, a closer-than-expected win over East Carolina that had McElwain fuming at his postgame press conference due to costly penalties, mental errors and an unfocused approach.
Florida's 24-7 win over UMass had a similar feel at times. The Gators won but not in the manner most expected since they were a 36-point favorite over a UMass team ranked near the bottom of the FBS in nearly every major power-index poll.
The Gators opened the fourth quarter nursing a 10-7 lead. Too close for comfort for the rain-soaked fans inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
"We gave that team a chance and we let them stick around for a while,'' senior linebacker Jarrad Davis said. "When it comes to bigger opponents, stronger opponents, we can't do that to ourselves."
As the fourth quarter opened, UMass owned possession with a chance to drive for a go-ahead score.
The mood was tense.
"The defense went out there with the mentality to put the ball down, no matter what happens we were going to make the play,'' Florida safety Nick Washington said of the focus at the start of the final quarter. "We knew the offense was going to go out there and make plays for us."
Turned out as Washington envisioned in the end, but along the way McElwain saw too much he didn't like to jump for joy after the Gators improved to 11-4 under his watch – and snapped their three-game losing streak from the end of last season.
There were too many penalties (eight for 80 yards), too little energy on the offensive line and not enough explosive plays.
"We didn't have any," McElwain said. "We've got to get 'em. We dropped a couple. We had the first one pretty much wide open. That's something we've get to get a little bit better at, obviously."
McElwain is referring to the Gators' first play of the game, a deep pass from quarterback Luke Del Rio to an open Antonio Callaway. If the play had worked, the Swamp would have erupted with rapture, only moments after Steve Spurrier, the Head Ball Coach, had finished his Mr. Two Bits routine to get the crowd into a frenzy.
Instead, Del Rio overthrew Callaway for a what-could-have-been incompletion.
Del Rio responded just fine in his first career start. He led the Gators on an 11-play, 71-yard drive on their second possession of the game, connecting with Callaway for a 12-yard touchdown for the first Florida touchdown of the season. Del Rio finished 29 of 44 for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
The 44 pass attempts were more than Florida had in a single game during McElwain's first season.
"That's kind of who we want to be a little bit,'' McElwain said. "I thought Luke did some pretty darn good things, took care of the football. I think if there's some real positives out of it, you know, the turnover piece was something that I thought was really good as far as taking care of the football. And you know what, that's how you become successful as a team."
Del Rio did his part other than for that overthrow to Callaway, which he said even surprised himself since he didn't realize he could throw it that far.
Once Del Rio settled into a rhythm and ran the offense, the challenge was trying to find holes in the UMass defense.
"We were having successful plays, just penalties, one missed block here, a drop here, a missed throw here — just little things like that kind of hindered drives individually," Del Rio said. "I thought we did a fairly decent job of executing the game plan. We need to do a better job at being more consistent and finishing drives."
The worst stretch for the Gators came on UMass' only scoring drive, a nine-play, 75-yard journey aided by three Florida penalties for 35 yards. Two of the penalties were personal fouls, one on linebacker Jarrad Davis for roughing the passer on a third-and-4 play, and the other a personal foul on defensive lineman Taven Bryan that moved the Minutemen to Florida's 32.
UMass quarterback Ross Comis also completed a fourth-and-14 pass to Jalen Williams, who beat Gators defensive back Chris Williamson for a 24-yard gain. Williamson played extended reps due to a first-half injury to starter Duke Dawson.
The Minutemen tied the game on Comis' 5-yard run early in the second quarter to change the vibe inside the Swamp. An expected rout suddenly took a more serious turn.
And Florida's defense was not too pleased about it.
"We kind of knocked a little dust off tonight. We came out and we were making mistakes we haven't really made in a long time,'' Davis said. "We caused a lot of our problems. We put ourselves in a lot of bad situations."
Still, No. 25-ranked Florida won and limited UMass to 187 yards of total offense. Kicker Eddy Pineiro played a starring role in his first college game.
Pineiro made three field goals, including a 49- and 48-yarder in the final quarter as the Gators pulled away. Del Rio tossed a short pass to Brandon Powell, who did the rest for a 26-yard touchdown that finally gave the Gators a comfortable 21-7 lead midway into the fourth quarter.
Perhaps it wasn't exactly the way McElwain drew it up, but he walked off the field – newly christened Steve Spurrier-Florida Field – with a victory in his back pocket and his eye toward Kentucky next week for the Southeastern Conference opener.
"It was fun to get back after it and really get that taste of the last ballgame we played a little bit out of our mouth," McElwain said. "I'm sure they're going to take a look at this tape and come in here and take a look at us the last whatever, three games of the season a year ago and say, 'You know, we can beat these guys.' I'm sure that's what Kentucky will do."
If that sounds familiar, it should.
After McElwain's rant following last season's win over East Carolina, a road trip to Kentucky loomed.
"I'm sure right now they are going to look at this and say, 'You know what, we can beat these guys,' '' McElwain said then.
Twelve months later, on a damp Saturday night, his message was the same, just not quite as loud.
