Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With apologies to Clint Eastwood, the University of Florida's 24-7 season-opening defeat of Massachusetts included "some good, some ugly and some bad." 
 
Those were the words of Coach Jim McElwain. And while they weren't delivered in quite the same order as the 1966 spaghetti western classic, the message was clear. Taken on the whole, the sum of good-plus-ugly-plus bad means about 33 percent of what occurred Saturday night against the Minutemen was acceptable, which leaves plenty of room for improvement this Saturday when the No. 25 Gators (1-0) take on Kentucky (0-1) in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. 
 
"We have to grow up and grow up soon," McElwain said. "We're looking forward to that transformation as we go into this ball game." 
 
Florida has defeated Kentucky 29 straight in their annual series, the longest such streak by one FBS team over another and a mastery that dates to the 1987 season. The last two meetings, though, have been anything but givens. The Gators needed some late defense to hold off the Wildcats 14-9 last year in Lexington and two years ago were taken into triple-overtime at the "Swamp" before a 1-yard touchdown run by Matt Jones allowed UF to escape with a win. 
 
Senior linebacker and defensive leader Jarrad Davis was a sophomore for that latter close call.
 
"It was something I was really glad to experience because it was one of the better moments in Florida football that I've been a part of since I've been here — and it's something I don't want to have happen again," Davis said. "It was a roller-coaster that I didn't want to be on for awhile, but it came out our way. So I just want to make sure that we handle business."
 
Business, though, was not booming in Game 1. 
 
Offensively, quarterback Luke Del Rio had a decent debut as a collegiate starter (256 yards, 2 touchdowns, no turnovers), but the offensive line struggled to pass protect and create opportunities in the running game (29 carries, only 107 yards), as the Gators were forced to settle for a trio of field goals — with sophomore kicker Eddy Pineiro a crowd-pleasing bright spot — and even failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the UMass 6. 
 
Defensively, the Gators limited the Minutemen to just 187 yards, but a trio of personal fouls helped UMass sustain drives. Meanwhile, more than half of those yards (107) came via three plays. UF's susceptibility to surrendering big chunks of yardage no doubt will have Kentucky's attention, considering the Wildcats had eight plays of 30 yards or more in cranking out 409 yards of offense in their season debut, albeit a 44-35 loss to Southern Miss. In that one, the Wildcats blew a 35-10 lead at home and surrendered 520 yards of offense. 
 
"Obviously, the explosive plays we have to do a great job of shutting them down and getting off the field there," McElwain said. 
 
The return of junior cornerback and preseason All-American Teez Tabor figures to help on that front. Tabor and junior tight end C'yontai Lewis were suspended from the UMass game due to a conduct issue in practice during the preseason. Junior wide receiver C.J. Worton could be back after missing the UMass game with a foot injury, while a pair of talented freshmen wideouts, Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells, will make their UF debuts after being reinstated following conduct suspensions. 
 
The availability of Worton, Cleveland and Wells, however, comes following a season-ending knee injury to Dre Massey, the junior college transfer who figured prominently in the Florida plans only to go down on the game's opening kickoff. 
 
"Just getting [the additional receivers] comfortable and reintegrated into the offense, it'll be really good to have them  back," Del Rio said. "Especially with Dre being down."
 
Senior backup linebacker Daniel McMillian sustained an ankle sprain and is not expected to play this week. The status of defensive back Duke Dawson, who left the UMass game with an arm injury, will be determined the next few days. 
 
McElwain hopes to see some more players step to the forefront this week after a pair of juniors, linebacker Alex Anzalone (6 tackles, 1 sack) and slot receiver Brandon Powell (7 catches, 73 yards, including a 24-yard TD), bounced back from injuries last season to make big splashes against the Minutemen. McElwain also mentioned running back Jordan Scarlett (13 carries, 73 yards) and the special teams play of Ahmad Fulwood (kick coverage) among those that showed up on tape. 
 
Now, though, it's time for SEC play. That means time for the Gators to start forging some sense of identity and establishing some physicality, particularly on the offensive line. That was an area at which McElwain leveled some criticism in his post-game remarks, relatively to the unit's collective body language. 
 
It came up again Monday. 
 
"I think the most concerning thing was that the effort wasn't there. I mean, we played hard, but how quickly we did it I didn't like," McElwain said. "And we were on edge a little bit, like I said in protections, which we knew we were going to get line movement, so why be surprised by it? It's not like you haven't seen it a couple thousand times in practice or whatever, but we've got to clean that piece up and make sure we keep the chief clean." 
 
The "chief" (aka the QB), who nonetheless completed 65.9 percent of his passes, is confident that can happen. 
 
"It's really just one block here, another block there," Del Rio said. "We are really close to scoring a lot of points. It's just tightening down those things."
 
In other words, more good, less ugly. And bad. 
 

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