Lamical Perine scores on a 2-yard run in the second quarter Saturday. (Photo: xxxx/UAA Communications)
Gators Unleash Physical Running Attack in Win Over Gamecocks
Saturday, November 10, 2018 | Football
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – All week long, the biggest question surrounding the Gators was the quarterback position.
First, would it be Feleipe Franks, the incumbent, or Kyle Trask, who replaced the ineffective Franks a week ago, under center against South Carolina? Then, on Wednesday night, Trask suffered a season-ending foot injury in practice, leaving Franks firmly entrenched in the lineup.
How would Franks perform with an impatient and restless crowd criticizing every throw he made?
Franks held his own, completing 15 of 21 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. However, despite the giant microscope on Franks, the passing statistics couldn't have been more irrelevant in the Gators' 35-31 comeback win over the Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon.
Florida (7-3, 5-3 in SEC) ran for 367 yards on 62 carries, a 5.9-yard average per rush. It was the most rushing yards UF had compiled in a game since 2014 against Georgia. Additionally, it was only the third time since 2010 that the Gators rushed for at least 350 yards in a game.
"That was really fun," said redshirt junior running back Jordan Scarlett. "You know, every time we get the ball a lot, we always tell Coach [Dan Mullen], 'Oh, we're going to take over. We're going to take control.' The more he'll trust us, the more we'll do this thing."
Scarlett led the way, rushing for a season-high 159 yards on 18 carries (8.8 per carry). Always known as a physical runner, he seemed to run extra hard against South Carolina, dragging and bulldozing defenders for much of the day. He had runs of 16, 21, 25, 21 and 28 yards. Scarlett said his physicality is as much mental as physical.
"I'd say it's about 50-50 because you can run hard, and your body can only take you so far to run hard, but it's just having that mental strain that you're not going to let one man bring you down, or you're not going to let any tackler bring you down," he said. "You've got to continue to drive your feet and keep moving."
While Scarlett had the yards, junior Lamical Perine scored twice, including a 23-yarder that cut the lead to three early in the fourth quarter. He also had runs of 10, 13 and 16 yards, en route to a 16-carry, 107-yard day.
It was the third time Scarlett and Perine each rushed for 100 yards or more in a game and the second time this year (Vanderbilt).
"That's one of our goals," Perine said. "That's on our reminder sheet: run the ball and protect the quarterback. That's one thing we came in to the game knowing we had to do."
While Scarlett and Perine impressed, the Gators also got contributions in the running game from a couple of unlikely sources.
Franks seemed to take fans' criticism to heart, running more powerfully and inspired than he ever had in a UF uniform and possibly his entire life. He ran 16 times for just 36 yards, but he had 60 yards if you take out the yardage lost through sacks and other means. He scored two rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time in his career.
"I'm out there, and, in my mind, I'm thinking just like, 'I got to do anything, anything to get that extra yard, that extra inch for our team,' " Franks said. "Like I said, they deserve it. But when you say [I ran hard], that means a lot to me. I take that to heart because I know how much these guys put into it."
With the Gators trailing 31-28 and the ball inches from the goal line, Mullen called a quarterback run on fourth-and-goal. Franks took the snap and lunged into the end zone for the winning points.
"He definitely had that extra edge today," Scarlett said. "He was saying some stuff like, 'I'm about to go ram my head in there right now.' I'm like, 'All right, man.' But, you know, that's the kind of attitude you need as a quarterback, especially when he knows he's going to have to get those hard, dirty yards on third-and-short or those second-and-shorts that we're calling out here to go make the first, so he knows he has to have that attitude and that mindset, so I like it."
After each of his scores, TV cameras caught him yelling for the crowd who had booed him a week earlier to quit talking.
"I'm a super emotional player, and that's what it makes it a two-way street," he said. "A lot of people are going to like me, and a lot of people are not going to like me. And maybe that's something I shouldn't have did. But at the same time, I'm an emotional player. I want to win as much as anybody in the world."
Added Mullen: "He ran the ball hard, which is one of the things we're on him about. Be a willing runner. Be tough and get some tough yards when we need them. I think that kept them on edge."
Meanwhile, fans have been asking, begging, imploring to see more touches for sophomore receiver Kadarius Toney, and they finally got it against South Carolina. Toney rushed four times for 51 yards.
"When he touches the ball, really exciting things happen," Mullen said. "I think one of the things I haven't done a good job offensively, in just forcing us to just put the ball in his hands. I'll be honest with you, about half the time he touches the ball, the play doesn't look anything like we designed it to look at in practice, but exciting things certainly happen. We'll try to continue to do that and make sure he gets touches."
Said Franks: "I'm scared I'm going to get crack-backed. Now, I don't want to get crack-backed. I'm giving the ball and then I'm like, 'carry out my fake, OK.' Then the next thing I know I'm looking this way, and he's cutting back this way. I'm like, 'all right, let me go try and get a block for him or something.' "
Mullen started the game with five of the first six plays being passes, presumably to get Franks some confidence.
However, the Gators fell behind 14-0 and later 31-14. When most teams fall behind two or three scores, they tend to abandon the run and try to hit some explosive plays downfield. For Mullen, it was the opposite against the Gamecocks. He leaned on the run more and more as the game went on.
"Obviously, I want to try and keep people balanced and keep them on edge, but our backs were running hard, and once we started getting success on the ground, we started to roll with it," Mullen said. "But it was a big deal for us. We thought coming in we wanted to play up-tempo, get on the ball and go fast and to be able to run the ball to do that."
On the go-ahead drive midway through the final period, Florida ran it on all 10 plays, finishing it off with Franks' 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 4:09 to go.
After an incredible diving interception by sophomore cornerback CJ Henderson, UF had the ball at the USC 44-yard line, needing to run out the clock. The Gators were held in check on first and second downs, and Mullen gave the ball to Scarlett on third-and-6. He started right, saw a wall of defenders and cut back around the left side for 28 yards to effectively seal the win. Perhaps most significantly, he slid inbounds to keep the clock moving rather than running out of bounds.
"It's just having football knowledge, knowing that we need to keep the clock running, so you got to stay in bounds regardless of how big the run was," Scarlett said. "Trying to keep the clock going. We got to win the game."
Florida entered the day ninth nationally in yards per rush in the fourth quarter (6.33). Against the Gamecocks, they averaged seven yards per carry in the fourth.
"Sometimes you look and say, when you roll the backs through, you don't have the guy that puts up obnoxious numbers at the running back position, but you're also fresh," Mullen said. "You saw that in the fourth quarter with the runs that they were able to make as we can go one-two punch."
While Scarlett was speaking to the media after the game, UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin stopped by and gave him a fist bump. A lot of Gator fans probably wanted to do the same thing.
"We feel like we can compete against any running back in the SEC and the nation, so we are a pretty good combination when we get rolling," Perine said.
First, would it be Feleipe Franks, the incumbent, or Kyle Trask, who replaced the ineffective Franks a week ago, under center against South Carolina? Then, on Wednesday night, Trask suffered a season-ending foot injury in practice, leaving Franks firmly entrenched in the lineup.
How would Franks perform with an impatient and restless crowd criticizing every throw he made?
Franks held his own, completing 15 of 21 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. However, despite the giant microscope on Franks, the passing statistics couldn't have been more irrelevant in the Gators' 35-31 comeback win over the Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon.
Florida (7-3, 5-3 in SEC) ran for 367 yards on 62 carries, a 5.9-yard average per rush. It was the most rushing yards UF had compiled in a game since 2014 against Georgia. Additionally, it was only the third time since 2010 that the Gators rushed for at least 350 yards in a game.
"That was really fun," said redshirt junior running back Jordan Scarlett. "You know, every time we get the ball a lot, we always tell Coach [Dan Mullen], 'Oh, we're going to take over. We're going to take control.' The more he'll trust us, the more we'll do this thing."
Scarlett led the way, rushing for a season-high 159 yards on 18 carries (8.8 per carry). Always known as a physical runner, he seemed to run extra hard against South Carolina, dragging and bulldozing defenders for much of the day. He had runs of 16, 21, 25, 21 and 28 yards. Scarlett said his physicality is as much mental as physical.
"I'd say it's about 50-50 because you can run hard, and your body can only take you so far to run hard, but it's just having that mental strain that you're not going to let one man bring you down, or you're not going to let any tackler bring you down," he said. "You've got to continue to drive your feet and keep moving."
While Scarlett had the yards, junior Lamical Perine scored twice, including a 23-yarder that cut the lead to three early in the fourth quarter. He also had runs of 10, 13 and 16 yards, en route to a 16-carry, 107-yard day.
It was the third time Scarlett and Perine each rushed for 100 yards or more in a game and the second time this year (Vanderbilt).
"That's one of our goals," Perine said. "That's on our reminder sheet: run the ball and protect the quarterback. That's one thing we came in to the game knowing we had to do."
While Scarlett and Perine impressed, the Gators also got contributions in the running game from a couple of unlikely sources.
Franks seemed to take fans' criticism to heart, running more powerfully and inspired than he ever had in a UF uniform and possibly his entire life. He ran 16 times for just 36 yards, but he had 60 yards if you take out the yardage lost through sacks and other means. He scored two rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time in his career.
"I'm out there, and, in my mind, I'm thinking just like, 'I got to do anything, anything to get that extra yard, that extra inch for our team,' " Franks said. "Like I said, they deserve it. But when you say [I ran hard], that means a lot to me. I take that to heart because I know how much these guys put into it."
With the Gators trailing 31-28 and the ball inches from the goal line, Mullen called a quarterback run on fourth-and-goal. Franks took the snap and lunged into the end zone for the winning points.
"He definitely had that extra edge today," Scarlett said. "He was saying some stuff like, 'I'm about to go ram my head in there right now.' I'm like, 'All right, man.' But, you know, that's the kind of attitude you need as a quarterback, especially when he knows he's going to have to get those hard, dirty yards on third-and-short or those second-and-shorts that we're calling out here to go make the first, so he knows he has to have that attitude and that mindset, so I like it."
After each of his scores, TV cameras caught him yelling for the crowd who had booed him a week earlier to quit talking.
"I'm a super emotional player, and that's what it makes it a two-way street," he said. "A lot of people are going to like me, and a lot of people are not going to like me. And maybe that's something I shouldn't have did. But at the same time, I'm an emotional player. I want to win as much as anybody in the world."
Added Mullen: "He ran the ball hard, which is one of the things we're on him about. Be a willing runner. Be tough and get some tough yards when we need them. I think that kept them on edge."
Meanwhile, fans have been asking, begging, imploring to see more touches for sophomore receiver Kadarius Toney, and they finally got it against South Carolina. Toney rushed four times for 51 yards.
"When he touches the ball, really exciting things happen," Mullen said. "I think one of the things I haven't done a good job offensively, in just forcing us to just put the ball in his hands. I'll be honest with you, about half the time he touches the ball, the play doesn't look anything like we designed it to look at in practice, but exciting things certainly happen. We'll try to continue to do that and make sure he gets touches."
Said Franks: "I'm scared I'm going to get crack-backed. Now, I don't want to get crack-backed. I'm giving the ball and then I'm like, 'carry out my fake, OK.' Then the next thing I know I'm looking this way, and he's cutting back this way. I'm like, 'all right, let me go try and get a block for him or something.' "
Mullen started the game with five of the first six plays being passes, presumably to get Franks some confidence.
However, the Gators fell behind 14-0 and later 31-14. When most teams fall behind two or three scores, they tend to abandon the run and try to hit some explosive plays downfield. For Mullen, it was the opposite against the Gamecocks. He leaned on the run more and more as the game went on.
"Obviously, I want to try and keep people balanced and keep them on edge, but our backs were running hard, and once we started getting success on the ground, we started to roll with it," Mullen said. "But it was a big deal for us. We thought coming in we wanted to play up-tempo, get on the ball and go fast and to be able to run the ball to do that."
On the go-ahead drive midway through the final period, Florida ran it on all 10 plays, finishing it off with Franks' 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 4:09 to go.
After an incredible diving interception by sophomore cornerback CJ Henderson, UF had the ball at the USC 44-yard line, needing to run out the clock. The Gators were held in check on first and second downs, and Mullen gave the ball to Scarlett on third-and-6. He started right, saw a wall of defenders and cut back around the left side for 28 yards to effectively seal the win. Perhaps most significantly, he slid inbounds to keep the clock moving rather than running out of bounds.
"It's just having football knowledge, knowing that we need to keep the clock running, so you got to stay in bounds regardless of how big the run was," Scarlett said. "Trying to keep the clock going. We got to win the game."
Florida entered the day ninth nationally in yards per rush in the fourth quarter (6.33). Against the Gamecocks, they averaged seven yards per carry in the fourth.
"Sometimes you look and say, when you roll the backs through, you don't have the guy that puts up obnoxious numbers at the running back position, but you're also fresh," Mullen said. "You saw that in the fourth quarter with the runs that they were able to make as we can go one-two punch."
While Scarlett was speaking to the media after the game, UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin stopped by and gave him a fist bump. A lot of Gator fans probably wanted to do the same thing.
"We feel like we can compete against any running back in the SEC and the nation, so we are a pretty good combination when we get rolling," Perine said.
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